Madara's wife
by Koomahana
Summary: before Madara betrayed Konoha and was exsiled he had a beautiful wife, a wife who committed suicide after an argument. a thousand years later he attached Konoha with the nine tailed demon and she appeared before him one more and just like always, she messed with his plans and made him fail his mission. just like always she drew him out and like always she found a way to escape him
1. Chapter 1

Years before Madara abandoned Konoha; he had married a beautiful young woman. A few months of arguing with each other and the young wife decided to take her life, thus changing Madara forever.

When he left he was pursued by an old friend named Hashirama Senju, Madara landed on the other side of a river when he was caught in a powerful genjutsu. Looking over to the other side of the river where Hashirama stood panting, Madara's eyes widened when he caught sight of his wife floating next to the young Hokage. Desperately Madara tried to cancel the Jutsu, when he opened his eyes he saw a confused looking Hashirama and when he turned around he saw why.

There just a few steps away was his weeping wife…

"Why?" she asked the wind that blew her long pink hair into her face "why did you betray me? You made a promise!" Madara tried to reach for her but she just faded away, cheery blossoms blocking his view of her until they faded and he saw her a few feet away; at the feet of a nine tailed fox…

"What do I do brother?" his wife cried out "I didn't mean to give him my heart, but he took anyways!" the fox wasn't as big as he normally was; he had shrunken himself to be at the height of most men.

"You gave up your powers to marry a human," the fox sighed "Do what other mortal women do, Imoto," the fox lowered his head to the woman who kneeled before him. Her tears staining the kimono she wore. "What do ashamed mortal women do Imoto?" the woman froze as the thought came to her, sniffing she lifted her head to the giant fox.

"They kill themselves," the woman hic-upped, a few tears dropping from her eyes. "Should I kill myself, elder brother?" the fox sighed and curled around the woman as if he could protect her from the wind.

"No" Madara whispered, his heart aching as he realized that this was how his wife had decided to die

"Yes," the fox whispered gently, "if you do you can return again in a thousand years," the fox whispered softly. "In a thousand years you will return, but so will I."

"Is that bad brother?" the woman asked as she cuddled close to the fox, "what will happen in a thousand years?"

"You know what will happen in a thousand years," the Fox said softly "It was you who for told it to me and father."

"You mean you will attach Konoha?" the woman asked as she rubbed at her eyes, "but you promised me!"

"I know, but I will not have a choice." The fox replied softly with a depressed sigh, "In one thousand years, you will be born once more… you will be found on the night I attach the proud village of fire." The fox lifted his head and gently nudge his little sister forward, towards Konoha.

"You decided to become mortal to save that village," the fox said softly, "You did this against your brother's warnings; now look at what's become of you." The woman turned towards the fox as he stood up from where they both had laid. "Now we will not meet again for a thousand years, in a thousand years we ten Bijuu will be scattered fare and wide across the five nations map." The fox nuzzled the woman's neck affectionately.

"In a thousand years we will meet again." The fox promised the woman giggled as the fox's breath tickled her; the fox grinned and stood before he quickly disappeared from sight. The woman straightened her back and squared her shoulders; she turned around to face the direction of Konoha, just over Madara's right shoulder; a determination lit her emerald eyes like a fire.

"You broke my heart Madara, now you'll pay the price." The woman promised before she disappeared once more in a swirl of cheery blossoms.

"…Sakura…" Madara whispered to the wind, his eyes focused and he turned to fallow the cheery blossoms only to find Hashirama starring at him. Madara scowled at him hatefully, his wife had only married him to protect that man.

"She says I'll pay the price?" Madara asked, hatred leaking from his whole being, "I'm not the one who sold herself to protect people who saw her as a monster!" Madara did some hand signs, ignoring Hashirama's cries completely "I won't pay the price for her betrayal," Madara promised, "YOU WILL!"

…

* * *

...

A woman let out a heavy sigh as she watched Madara escape from Hashirama with one hell-of-a explosion just for the fun of it. He had summoned the Kitsune demon and as predicted Hashirama and Mito sealed it away.

"You're a fool," she whispered to the wind, she saw Hashirama fly into a few trees and thought about checking up on him. Sakura turned to look behind herself when she felt hot breath warm her neck.

"Elder brother," the woman whispered with a soft smile, the fox rested his head on her shoulder with a pout. He was only a small fraction of his original self, with just enough power to protect this woman who saved his life.

"Did you have to do that, Imoto?" the kitsune asked, the woman smiled at him "you didn't have to show him that we were related ya' know."

"It was fun to see the color drain out of his face though" she mused; the fox snorted and quickly placed Sakura onto his back before she could blink.

"You're more like my daughter then my sister," the woman smiled at the fox as he jumped up to the top of the cliff.

"No he doesn't need to know that you through me back in time to save the village," she said as she ran her fingers though the thick fur, the fox made a disgruntled sound that had her smiling. "Alright, alright, did it to save your own rear end." the fox laughed as he stepped in front of Hashirama and Mito who starred up at the two with a mix of horror and fascination. The woman stepped down from the fox and kneeled before Hashirama as his wife trembled at his side.

"If you'll amuse this kit of the nine tails," the woman said softly as she lifted her eyes to lock onto Hashirama's dark orbs "I'll gladly heal you of your wounds."

"You're… the nine tail's… child?" Hashirama whispered softly

"Sakura?" Mito gasped out as Sakura began to heal her wounds before she moved on to Hashirama's injuries.

"No, I am the Bijuu child of Hagoromo; I am the nine tailed human kitsune. My name is Shunsetsu" the woman answered, she stepped away from Hashirama and approached the fox once more. "They're no longer in any danger," the woman said as she climbed on to the fox's back, the wind gently blew soft pink strands into her face.

"You can take me to my physical body now," the fox nodded and disappeared from sight as he raced away and jumped into a swirling vertex some feet away. Hashirama and Mito never spoke word of the exchange ever again, although there were a few times when both thought they had seen Madara's young wife, neither one ever dared to approach her.

…

* * *

A thousand years later,

Outside the gates of Konoha

* * *

…

While she was taking a small baby from its parents, she had left a clone behind with Minato and his wife Kushina to make sure Madara didn't do too much damage. Unfortunately he had nearly killed Kushina, luckily he just took the fox within her and left; Minato hot on his heals with Naruto in his arms. With those left behind to hurt to do much of anything other than stare after Minato, the woman's clone had stepped forward and did her best for Kushina. Knowing that as soon as Kushina was out of danger she would disappear to warn her real self, just before the clone had expelled Kushina opened her eyes and starred at Sakura with mixed emotions.

"Thank you" Kushina whispered gently before falling asleep on the stone floor, the clone disappeared immediately after, relaying the message and memory to the real woman as she ran from behind the Hokage Mountain and towards Konoha's gates.

The woman sighed and tightened her hold on the tiny eight month old baby who tried to grab at her long pink hair and play with it; she smiled gently down at small baby. After a record time for her, the woman found herself standing at the gates as she watched the nine tailed fox rage havoc on the village of her home, she sighed when she saw the forth Hokage appear with a bundle in his arms.

Quickly the woman disappeared from sight, jumping in front of the young blond Hokage; she knocked his hands down and kicked him out of the way as she replaced his seal. The woman turned to the raging fox before her and did her own hand signs, she heard Minato scream out at her but she only flicked a smile at him. It wasn't long before the jutsu he was going to use was modified, and once activated he was amazed at what had happened.

The fox let out a screech and split into two forms, one crimson and angry quickly descended into his blond son in the out stretched arms of the woman before him. In the next instant his son was in his arms, the woman turned and held out a second child.

"No!" Minato cried out, he went to move forward but found himself unable to move. The woman flashed another smile at him before the second form, calm and pale like snow, dashed forward and with a flash of light disappeared into the tiny screaming child in her arms. Minato starred at the woman as she placed the tiny baby on top of the frog's head, she looked up at him with a small sad smile.

"A promise is a promise," she said "Madara will pay the price for betraying me," the woman smiled at him brightly "Just ask Hashirama-sama!" and then she faded into cheery blossoms that surrounded the screaming bundle and faded into the child's forehead. Minato stepped forward and sat next to the tiny baby; he rolled the cloth out of the baby's way so he could see it and found his breath caught in this throat.

The baby had nine tiny pink tails wrap up around her and curl around her legs and arms protectively, she had emerald green eyes and short pink hair and she most certainly wasn't a new born. It was also then he noticed a cheery blossom glowed on her forehead almost affectionately before it slowly stilled and then faded from view, even the child's tails shrunk away from view; as if they were never there.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," Minato sighed, "what am I going to do with _two_ jinjuriki?"

"You can give me the girl," a voice said, Minato snapped around, his eyes wide. Just behind him stood a man dressed in black with an orange mask, "a promise is a promise," the man whispered, "the girl belongs to me." Minato growled lowly before he took the tiny girl in his arms and held her close next to his son; the two babies instantly quieted.

"Like hell I will," before the strange man could do anything Minato expelled Gamabunta and flew to the nearest tree. "Cover me!" Minato ordered to a nearby shinobi, the man nodded his head and covered the area with wire and explosives. Minato didn't know what happened to the strange man in black, but he was willing to bet that the cursing from behind him was the same man. Minato landed on the ground before a medical team, noting gladly the blond woman who was taking charge.

"Tsunade!" Minato called, he was relieved when the woman spun around to face him and he stuffed the tiny bundles into her arms, "take them and get to safety!" Minato turned around just in time to block several kunai and shiriken, "NOW!" Minato ordered, the man in black cursed again and gave chase after the young woman and her medical team that fallowed her.

"You won't get her!" Minato shouted out as he blocked the strange man, "I know you were the one controlling the Kiyobi!" the man jumped away from Minato as others came to fight beside him.

"You're a nuisance," the man replied as he landed and glanced around himself at the many shinobi who quickly zeroed in on him. "I only want the girl," Minato crouched and growled out a thick 'no' before he charged forward and attached.

"You're making this more difficult than it needs to be," the man said as he blocked each attach thrown at him, he was a little amazed that someone else actually landed a kick on him. It didn't take him long to find himself looking into distinctive crimson eyes, he stood in the circle of the crimson eyed shinobi; carefully watching them. "I only want the girl," he repeated, Minato stepped forward.

"Never going to happen," Minato snapped "You weren't prepared for that woman were you?" the man twitched and Minato could almost feel the man glare at him. "You didn't know she was going to show up did you?"

"You know nothing," the man growled lowly "She betrayed me…" Minato could almost imagine the shiver of fury going through the man's body "She was my wife… she betrayed me…" suddenly the man straightened and relaxed his stance.

"You took her away from me," the man turned towards Minato more fully "You'll pay the price with your life." Minato watched as the man started to disappear within the right eye hole of his mask, before he was completely gone he saw two of the Uchiha's nearby through kunai into the whole. He wasn't all that impressed when only one flew back and exploded.

Minato coughed as he picked himself up from the ground, he dusted off his knees and looked around himself expectantly, after a moment he nodded his head. Minato turned and watched as the other shinobi slowly picked themselves up, Minato turned to the man still standing before him and let out a sigh. Walking forward a few steps Minato knocked the man alongside his head almost playfully; he wasn't surprised when he had to catch the man to keep him from falling to harshly on the ground.

"That was stupid Fugaku," Minato chided his friend as he laid the clan head on the ground; "You didn't need to do that, it was unnecessary."

"He's an Uchiha," Fugaku mumbled lowly as he tried to sit up, only to get smacked on his head and forced to lay back down.

"I know, I think his name is Madara," Minato said, Fugaku instantly stiffened and he turned sharp crimson eyes to his Hokage.

"Are you sure about that?" Fugaku asked, he ignored the medic who started to work on him, Minato nodded his head.

"That woman said 'Madara will pay the price, a promise is a promise; just ask Hashirama-sama'." Minato watched his friend let out a heavy sigh, "then that man repeated her, saying 'a promise is a promise' and that 'she was his wife', I don't suppose you know what that means?" Fugaku let out another sigh and nodded his head.

"A story for another time, did you catch what that woman looked like?" Fugaku asked, Minato nodded his head

"She had white hair and emerald green eyes." Minato answered, Minato didn't know that Fugaku could turn such a scary shade of white. "Hay-hay is he alright?" Minato asked as he turned to the medic healing Fugaku, the young man looked down at Fugaku and paled himself.

"He wasn't that bad!" the medic insisted, "I swear he shouldn't be looking like that!" Minato looked back down at Fugaku as the man through a tiered arm over his eyes.

"Oh shut up," Fugaku snapped "Its' got nothing to do with my wounds,"

"Then why are you so pale?" Minato asked, the medic let out a relieved sigh as he continued to work on Fugaku's adman and arms.

"Because you just described the biggest pride and joy of the Uchiha clan, she is also our biggest shame." Fugaku answered, "You just described a woman that almost all Uchiha women strive to be…"

"Almost?" a woman asked as she stood next to Minato "Try _all_" Minato looked between the Uchiha kunochi and the glaring Fugaku. The woman turned to Minato with a smile, "We've been waiting for that woman's return for centuries."

"Shizune," Fugaku growled lowly, the woman glanced down at him "I said a story for another time."

"Hog wash," the woman said as she plopped next Minato "He needs to know now so he knows how to counter that fools next attach."

"That man will attach again?" Minato asked, the woman nodded her head

"Yes," the woman confirmed "he'll come back for that girl again and again until he gets his hands on her." Minato let out a heavy sigh as he placed his head into one palm.

"This isn't going to get any easier is it?" Minato asked, to which Fugaku laughed

"Nope, this is only the beginning," Minato let out a groan

"How am I supposed to explain this now?" Fugaku looked up at Minato for a moment before he hid his eyes behind his arm again.

"Only tell them about your son," Fugaku answered, Minato looked over at Fugaku with a raised eye brow "Don't tell the girl or anyone else about what happened with her. She doesn't need to know."

"So what am I going to do when the seal suddenly breaks on her?" Minato asked, "I've never seen any seals that looked like flowers before!" the Uchiha woman gave a low whistle as Fugaku let out a groan, Minato looked between the two.

"Any seal that looks like a flower is defiantly _her_ handy work," Shizune said, "when are you going to get better and tell him?" Shizune asked Fugaku suddenly.

"Hopefully never" Fugaku mumbled lowly, Shizune 'tsk'ed him and left when another group of women called her over.

"You're done," the medic said to which he jumped away as quickly as he could to get away from one very frustrated Fugaku.

"So you _are_ going to tell me something about that woman right?" Minato asked Fugaku as the man stood,

"I was hoping the prophecy was wrong," Fugaku sighed as he turned to Minato "but wouldn't you know it? Just like everything else that woman has ever said come true has done so, even that of her own rebirth." Minato raised an eye brow at Fugaku

"You are going to give an example and a name to this woman, right?" Minato asked as he fallowed his friend back to the village calmly, Fugaku nodded his head with a sigh.

"That woman you met was named Sakura Uchiha," Fugaku answered "She married into the family," Fugaku said quickly when he caught sight of Minato's raised eye brow.

"Aa"

"And she was wife to Madara Uchiha…" Minato kept in step with the Uchiha head calmly before he paused with realization

"Madara?" Minato repeated slowly, "As in the man that we just fought?"

"One and the same." Fugaku confirmed "Madara is an exile, Sakura was supposed to be dead."

"She didn't look very dead," Minato countered "She redid my sealing Jutsu before I could blink, she held a second child in her arms that I didn't notice until she held it up into the air like an offering to the gods."

"Yeah, legend says she was sneaky like that," Fugaku mumbled under his breath

"Legend?" Minato asked, Fugaku sighed and rubbed the back of his neck

"Why don't I just give you Sakura's friend's Diary?" Fugaku asked "Mikoto will raise hell with me, but so long as we get it back unharmed she can't complain."

"Why do I have to read the poor woman's diary?" Minato asked with a frown

"Because it can explain everything so much better than I can" was the soft reply

…

* * *

...

When Minato had returned to the village he found that his wife was there and was asking about him. Minato didn't know he could run so fast to the hospital, Tsunade had to knock him on the head to keep him from smothering his wife when he entered her room and found her perfectly fine. Kushina even told him about the strange white haired woman who saved her life; the shinobi who were left behind with Kushina as Minato had left to do his jutsu had only confirmed her hazy memories.

Now Minato sat in his study the next morning, his son by his side coupled with the strange pink haired baby girl. Neither child has so much as twitched since he had put them in there and he was almost nervous. At his request Tsunade had checked both children and after she thumped him on his head when he asked her to do it again in front of him, Minato decided to trust her judgment. Although not hearing a _damn_ _thing_ at eighteen hours old, when most babies would be whaling up a storm; was a little on the unsettling side of things. At least Tsunade had told him that the girl was at least eight months old, which was such a big help to him; there weren't many pink haired babies born in Konoha to begin with but given a direct month to work with was always helpful.

Minato looked up from the crib when he heard someone knock on his door, calling for them to enter he was surprised to find Tsunade enter with a young couple right behind her.

"Lord Hokage, these would be that girl's parents," Tsunade said with a hand on her hip, Minato raised an eyebrow at Tsunade. The couple looked nothing what he expected of the girl's parents. First off he expected the mother to have pink hair at the very least, but that apparently went to the girl's father; at least her mother had green eyes.

"I hope you don't mind if I ask for a blood comparison test," Minato stated as he turned slightly towards the couple who didn't look surprised in the least.

"I already took care of that Hokage-sama," Tsunade replied with a scowled, "There her parents alright. They came to me saying that they couldn't find their eight month old baby girl anywhere. After describing her I asked for them to participate in a blood test because of the attempted kidnapping and they didn't hastate." Minato nodded at Tsunade before he turned to the parents, who were stony faced and calm; as if nothing was wrong with losing your child and finding out that someone had tried to take them away.

"I find it strange that you two are so calm about everything," Minato said softly, "Most parents would be freaking out."

"Speaking from experience?" the man asked with a raised eye brow as he fought the twitch on his lips; Minato fought to smile as he starred dully at the man in front of him.

"We are as calm as we are Lord Hokage because of the woman who sparred your life and saved this village." The woman said softly, earning Minato's immanent attention, the woman smiled softly "The woman with white hair and emerald eyes told us what we needed to know. Then she took Sakura and said that in the morning we are to find the head medic and ask about her, the medic would request some tests and ask a serious of questions before we were to be taken to you; where more questions and most likely tests would be held." Minato starred at the woman, at least he could relax slightly now. Minato let out a sigh as he leaned into his chare, before he bolted forward again.

"Did you just say that your daughter's name is Sakura?" Minato asked, the woman tilted her head slightly as she answered with a soft 'yes'. Minato let out a heavy sigh as he fell back into his seat, rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Things just keep getting better and better," Minato sighed softly as someone else knocked and entered his study; looking up Minato caught the pale face of one Fugaku Uchiha. With several scrolls wrapped up in a basket under his arm, Fugaku looked between the parents before he looked at the crib then looked urgently towards Minato; Minato cleared his throat.

"Could you two please wait outside a moment?" Minato asked "I have more information about the situation coming in and I'm afraid you're not cleared for it." The woman turned and gave him a look that was almost a glare; her husband immediately took several steps back as if he were ready to flee.

"I just spent the entirety of the Kiyobi attach without my child in my arms," the woman replied so cool and soft it was almost like a breeze in December. "I would like to have my child with me once more, where I know she'll be safe." Minato starred at the woman, he could understand her feelings but he didn't trust them one bit; they were just too calm about it.

"sorry but I was told that a man would try again for your daughter," Minato sent the couple an apologetic smile "and I'm not entirely convinced that you're her parents, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask for questions to be asked and tests to be taken." The man frowned and looked at his wife almost expectantly; slowly he reached forward and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"It's okay, she warned us that this would happen," he said as the woman took in a deep breath, "She said that he wouldn't belief us and that we would have to be patient. So long as we're patient, we'll get her back." The woman let out her deep breath slowly and nodded at both Minato and her husband.

"My name is Mebuki Haruno and this is my husband Kizashi Haruno," the woman said softly, she bowed politely, turned and walked straight out the door that Fugaku had gladly gave over to them, Tsunade quickly fallowed them. After a moment Fugaku closed the door and approached his friend.

"Please tell me I didn't see what I think I just saw," Fugaku said as he pointed over his shoulder, Minato let out a sigh with a soft nod.

"Yeah, they claim to be the baby girl's parents," Minato leaned back in his chair as he turned his attention back on the two sleeping babies.

"They're so bloody odd!" Minato came very close to whining, "aren't twenty hour old babies fussy and loud?"

"Only my youngest was like that," Fugaku replied, "So I don't have a clue." Minato let out a groan, as he looked at his friend

"Do you know anything that will help with this brewing head ach?" Minato asked, Fugaku raised his eye brown and lifted the basket of scrolls on his arm and set it gently on the desk before him.

"These are the diaries I said you could read," Fugaku answered with a smirk, Minato looked between the scrolls and Fugaku like he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

"My head ach is going to get worse isn't it?" Fugaku smiled pleasantly at his friend

"There's more here than just what you can count, each scroll holds a set number of other scrolls. These sixteen scrolls simply represent the sixteen years she spent with the Uchiha clan before she died."

"Lovely," Minato whispered as he took out one scroll and rolled it open to revel lovely painted flowers that had surprising detail in them "You sure these are the scrolls?" Minato asked he raised an eyebrow at the art work, Fugaku nodded his head.

"Yeah I'm sure, there's an old story about how Sakura-sama went to seal something and demolished a forest afterward because the seal didn't look the way she wanted it too." Fugaku dead panned, Minato starred at him for a second

"What did it look like?" Minato asked, Fugaku gave a wiry smirk before he pointed at the parchment in his hands "She just keeps getting better and better," Minato whispered, "How the hell does she manage to make her seals look like flowers anyways?"

"Good question," Fugaku answered, Minato looked up sharply with a raised eye brow, "there are lots of stories of how she would seal something away and then go demolish an army or mountain or forest… something always got destroyed after she sealed something away. She didn't understand it any better than you do." Minato turned to the sleeping babies again, his eyes locked on the tiny eighth month old, pink haired baby girl.

"Have any of her seals ever broken before?" Minato asked, Fugaku looked from Minato to the tiny baby girl next to his friends new born.

"None come to mind, but then again I don't recall any stories about her sealing Bijuu before." Fugaku returned his eyes to his friend once more "that's something you'd have to ask Mikoto." Minato looked at his friend, confusion written all over his face.

"Why do I have to ask her?" Minato asked, Fugaku gave a strained smile with a stiff nod

"Mikoto is a direct decent of the woman who was Sakura-sama's best friend and right hand." Fugaku answered, "Sakura-sama was close to one of her friends and never hide a thing from her. Therefore all of her prophecies, sayings, and some of her jutsu's were all handed down by that one friend. This was accomplished though the fact that the friend kept a record of almost everything Sakura-sama had done in a single day."

"So is that why the Uchiha are so strong?" Minato joked; Fugaku snorted and turned a sharp eye to his friend.

"It's the reason why female Uchiha are so damn emotional and scary," Fugaku dead panned, Minato laughed; his hand instantly slapping over his mouth so he wouldn't wake the babies. But they only whimpered and turned slightly until they were holding hands again.

"Besides there's a price to pay to being that descendent," Fugaku whispered as he took a step forward to get a better look at the babies, Minato turned to his friend once more.

"What kind of price?" Minato asked, Fugaku didn't glance at him

"Mikoto can't read the scrolls to outsiders and can only pass them down to her oldest daughter, revealing a story and prophecy as she does so." Fugaku turned to his friend "I don't know what it is so don't ask, only the first born daughter finds out on her mother's death bed. After which the seal placed on the mother is passed to the daughter, making sure that only the daughter's first born girl will be able to with hold the secret once more." Minato groaned and slouched in his chare

"I'm beginning to think this Sakura woman was a seal master," Minato whispered into his hand

"She was," Fugaku replied, to which Minato starred at him dumbly "She surprised quite a few Uzimaki in her time with her knowledge of seals, in fact she almost married an Uzimaki." Fugaku turned back to the scrolls

"The last prophecy she permitted to be common knowledge was that the day she returns would be the day the heir of fire will read her scrolls with the help of a healing princess and learn almost all of her secrets. Only these two shall know and continue to raise her without her own knowledge present until her dyeing day; when she reawakens to wreck havoc upon the man who betrayed her."

"Does she ever describe what these 'heir of fire' and 'healing princess' look like?" Minato asked, Fugaku starred at him as if he were an idiot

"I think she was referring to _Tsunade the_ _slug princess_," Fugaku dead panned "as for this 'heir of fire' the only thing she says is that he is the man who sacrificed himself to save his village on the night of his son's birthing."

"Save his village from what?" Minato asked interested,

"The nine tailed fox…"

…

* * *

...

Minato opened the first scroll representing the first year, inside he found twelve more scrolls, when he opened the first scroll he became generally interested in this sealing master from a thousand years ago. He immediately recognized a little more than half of the letters as either sealing lines, or a code word that they used in present day Anbu.

When Tsunade stood by his side he found out that she had been working on a secret code for some of her more potent poisons and that she recognized a good portion of her symbols within the diary; even Jiraya found a few he recognized and translated easily. After translating five of the scrolls in the first year scroll Minato decided that it would be a good idea to start reading what the scrolls were actually saying.

…

* * *

...

Minato regretted ever reading the scroll diaries of Sakura Uchiha's best friend, she detailed her days like shopping lists in some cases and then in others it's like she's writing a book. Some scrolls gave him headaches with the names she knew and the person's personality. The girl had even written that Sakura had recognized the first and second Hokage's with ease and told them of their fate. To which apparently Sakura was not pleased with when it came true, she had met and spoken with the third Hokage and told him of his fate as well; Which had Minato asking his predecessor if it was true and apparently he didn't remember such an encounter because he was still young.

Minato read through prophecy though prophecy, each with their days marked on them as titles, and he couldn't help but be impressed with how much this Matriarch knew. She could apparently look at someone and know if they left a permanent mark on history or not, if they did their fates would be told. The day she met with the heads of both the Senju and Uchiha she had singled out their heirs almost immediately and told them their fates just as quickly. There were instances were it almost sounded as if the woman was reciting a text book instead of actually seeing the person's fate; Minato was amazed when he realized that she was best with predicting land marks.

…

* * *

...

"Kushina did you ever meet a white haired woman before?" Minato asked as he visited his red haired wife in the hospital, he placed their son in her arms as he held the tiny baby girl on his hip. The tiny girl took one look at Minato's empty chest and started fussing immediately when she saw that her blond counterpart was missing; Minato quickly placed the baby girl in his wife's lap and she settled down quickly.

"those two can't stand not being without the other for any amount of time," Minato sighed as he sat down "I had to ask Tsunade for help when I gave them a bath because neither wanted to be in the water, much less let the other one be in it without them."

"Sounds like they have a bound stronger than any other," Kushina smiled completely ignoring his previous question "I've heard of some seals doing that."

"What, you mean like a tracking seal?" Minato asked, Kushina nodded her head

"Yeah, you know when some seals are placed on someone it doesn't matter where that person goes; the one who places it on them can always tell their exact location, Even if that person is alive or dead." Minato let out a breath, "Some can even tell the person if the one holding the seal is hurt, dyeing, in childbirth or having sex." Minato looked a little green

"That was not something I needed in my head," Minato grumbled lowly to which Kushina laughed, "can some seals transport thoughts?" Minato asked, Kushina raised an eye brow at him

"None that I've heard of," she replied, she looked down at the nursing Naruto and the staring Sakura "You think they can?"

"I think the girl knows exactly what Naruto wants and tries to get it for him before he starts fussing." Minato answered "I watched as she rolled over and grabbed a toy only to hand it over to Naruto who waved it around like a trophy." Kushina laughed, her shoulder's shaking with the motion

"Are you sure it's not just baby talk?" Kushina asked

"Considering the only one babbling is Sakura, yes I'm sure" Minato countered, Kushina gave him a wicked smiled

"So her name is Sakura huh," the red head looked down at the baby on her lap and gently moved the blanket out of the toddler's face, "I think someone's parents weren't very imaginative," Sakura giggled and wiggled her hands out to catch Kushina's long digits. "I think I would have preferred something like Kitsuna, over Sakura."

"Kitsuna Haruno or Sakura Haruno," Minato mused "that's an interesting combo there; I'm not sure which ones better myself." Kushina gave Minato a sarcastic smiled, she knew that tone of voice; he wasn't impressed

"That's because you don't care much for girl's names," she teased, Minato rolled his eyes "and what would you have done should we have had a girl and not a boy?" Kushina asked catching Minato off guard completely

"Properly name her Narune… or Toruna… or Otsuran… or Natoru—"

"You just like 'Naruto' way too much," Kushina shot back, "but I like Narune and Toruna, their unique."

"Like their mother?" Minato asked, to which Kushina starred dumbly at him for a moment before her face flushed.

"You aren't getting any more out of me for a while yet!" Kushina babbled out loudly "It was hell getting Naruto out! He has a watermelon for a head!"

"You didn't deny me my request," Minato mused softly, to which Kushina just blushed and turned away from him and decided that the babies were more interesting.

"Should I return Sakura to her parents?" Minato asked softly, Kushina looked up at him sharply her brows forward

"Did they pass the tests?" she asked, Minato nodded with a sigh

"I even had one of the Yamanaka go through their memories just in case," Minato leaned forward as he brushed some hair out of Sakura's eyes "They passed with flying colors."

"Then why are you hesitating?" Kushina asked

"I don't think she'll be safe with them," Minato stated "I just don't like how they were so perfectly calm about the situation with their daughter; they weren't worried in the least. They weren't surprised about the tests or questions; they even kept to their stories when we sent someone in to trick them." Minato let out a sigh, "For some strange reason I just don't like the thought of placing Sakura into their care…" Kushina gave Minato a sympathetic smile

"What would you do if your situations were switched?" Kushina asked softly

"Raise holly hell with the man keeping me from my child," Minato answered quickly and without hesitation, Kushina watched as his words sank into his own head and a dawning realization lit his eyes.

"I guess I could place seals and guards around their house…" Minato mumbled, "I just feel like something bad would happen if I let that girl out of my sight…"

"Perhaps it's because Naruto and Sakura can't stand to be without the other, so you know that when one starts crying then something isn't right with the other one." Kushina said softly "Like a pair of identical twins, both will know where the other is immanently and without hesitation head towards each other."

"Okay so why do I feel like it's a mistake letting Sakura go back to her parents?" Minato asked facing his wife who at times seemed older then she should be; Kushina shrugged her shoulders delicately.

"Only you can answer that question," Kushina replied just as softly "Only you can figure out what is going on within your own mind."

…

* * *

...

Six months later, on Sakura Haruno's first birthday, Mebuki had woken up to find her daughter dressed in a warm baby kimono and wrapped in a fur lined blanket that was the deepest shade of black that she had ever seen. But it wasn't this that stilled her heart when she first opened her eyes that morning; it was the sight of a young man holding her baby in his arms as he fed Sakura some milk. He was sitting on the window seal and humming softly to Sakura as she tried to tug on his hair and giggle at the same time. He had long wild black hair that covered half his face and dark tanned skin and where a crimson and black men's traditional fighting Kimono called a Hakama, two swords sat against the wall next to him.

The man didn't even look up at Mebuki as he slowly stood from the window seal and walked towards her; gently he kneeled before Mebuki and set the empty baby bottle on the night stand next to her bed and finally looked towards Mebuki for the first time. The young mother never felt more horrified in her entire life, she was terrified of the crimson gaze that starred down at her; she knew what the Sharingan looked like. She wasn't an idiot. Smiling as if there was nothing odd with his presence in her home or anything wrong with it at all, the young man lifted Mebuki's blanket and gently set Sakura in next to her. Carefully the man placed one of Mebuki's arms around Sakura so that both of her arms would be wrapped around the tiny baby before he placed the blanket back over the young mother and her year old baby.

"I'll return again next year," the man said softly to the sleeping baby as he rested his hand on her small head, Mebuki's eyes tear'd up slightly as her hands twitched under the blankets. As if sensing her fear and protectiveness, the man locked yes with Mebuki again and gave her a bone chilling smile.

"If you want to keep her, I suggest you stay here." And with that frightening message, the man turned and disappeared from the house, leaving no evidence of his being there other then the warm blanket and kimono that Sakura was wrapped up in; as well as the small golden necklace with the Uchiha crest discussed as a large white, six petal flower and a dozen small, red flowers just above it. The small necklace was placed on the light stand next to the baby bottle; it would take Mebuki two and a half hours before she could move again and when she did she pulled her child closer to her. She knew her husband was awake and new that he too was still to frightened move from his place, after it was his tight grip on her that had woken her in the first place.

…

* * *

...

Minato starred at the small necklace sitting before him, he wasn't surprised when Mebuki simply handed it over to him so she could replace it with a small baby toy instead. Now all he had to do was think about how the bastard had managed to get into the village without raising the alarms, it was a little frightening that someone so strong could just enter and leave his village willy-nilly like that.

"How long are you going to stare at that?" Minato looked up to find those he thought would be the most helpful at the moment sitting around him; it was Shikaku Nara who had spoken up.

"Until I figure out why the hell this guy decided it was a good idea to give a baby such an expensive necklace," Minato replied as he looked at Shikaku Nara, Fugaku Uchiha and Mikoto Uchiha, his wife Kushina and Sakura's parents Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno; who was still shaking slightly as she held her daughter to her chest almost tightly.

"Its hand crafted, most likely as a special order…" Shikaku replied as he looked at the necklace. "If that's true, you can start searching for gold and silver smiths and jewelers who had expensive orders; like this one is estimated to be."

"The man who made this is dead," Fugaku replied softly, the others in the room turned to him, "This piece is at least a thousand years old."

"That old, huh?" Shikaku replied as he slouched in his chair, he looked back at the necklace. "It's in remarkable good condition for being so old, are you sure it's a thousand years old?" Fugaku gave the Nara head a withering look before he pulled out a scroll and shoved it in the other man's direction.

"That's a description of everything that was buried with one of our ancestors," Fugaku replied as the Shikaku lazily opened the scroll, "we've re-exhumed the burial chamber for the woman whose possessions those belong to. Not only did we find no corps but all of her items that were buried with her are missing. Even those items that were placed in her burial chamber were—"

"Her body was missing?" Shikaku asked as he looked up from the scroll that showed him a perfect painted replica of the necklace that was in the middle of their discussion as well as a matching hair pin.

"Why would anyone want a thousand year old corpse?" Kushina asked looking a little green

"Properly because her body doesn't decompose," Mikoto said softly, "her body still looks like she went to sleep just last night."

"Why's that?" Shikaku asked generally interested, Mikoto fidgeted as she looked between her husband and her Hokage looking for approval. Minato nodded his head and Mikoto straightened, the Hokage out ranked her husband.

"It's best to start at the beginning; the woman who originally owned that necklace was named Sakura Uchiha," Mikoto said with a smile, she watched as everyone turned their attention to her, "She was a master in many arts, including Taijutsu, Genjutsu, Fūin Jutsu and some ninjutsu."

"She doesn't look like an Uchiha," Shikaku dead panned as held a piece of the scroll up, it showed a white haired woman half turned towards the painter, only showing her small stature, white hair and light skin; her face and eyes were hidden.

"She married into the family," Mikoto said, Shikaku nodded his head and continued to unroll the scroll and look at the other perfectly captured images of her other objects.

"Sakura-sama married a man named Madara Uchiha," Mikoto continued "he wasn't her first choice but she did so to keep peace between the Senju and Uchiha clans."

"Who was her intended?" Kushina asked

"Madara's younger brother, Izuna," Mikoto answered "When Izuna died Sakura-sama didn't want to marry into the Uchiha house hold any longer, Madara tricked her and her friends into the marriage."

"Tell me she knocked him out," Kushina mumbled under her breath,

"Only after he betrayed her did Sakura-sama actually strike him," Mikoto said softly, "it's said that he landed on the other side of the village and he couldn't return to his own house without getting hit by his new wife."

"She sounds fun," Shikaku mumbled, thinking of his own wife who, on occasion, had a rather nasty right hook.

"Madara had sought to use Sakura-sama as a weapon," Mikoto continued, ignoring Shikaku's mumblings, "He didn't see her as a woman or even as his wife; he saw her as a weapon simply because of her inheritance." Shikaku's eyes swiveled to the Uchiha matriarch, interest shown in his black-brown eyes. "You see, Sakura-sama is the younger sister of the nine tailed demon fox," Mikoto watched as Shikaku nearly fell out of his seat, his eyes wide.

"I thought that the fox was the last demon?" Shikaku asked, "Didn't all of the nine Bijuu get split across the five nations to keep peace amongst us?"

"Yes," Mikoto confirmed "but there were ten demons; this missing demon could not be sealed by human hands."

"Why was that?" Shikaku asked sicken pale, "Who was this demon?"

"The younger sister of all the Bijuu, the white fox with nine tails" Mikoto answered "A child who gave up all of her powers to become human, a white haired girl-fox named Sakura."

"Sakura?" Shikaku repeated slowly "as in Sakura Uchiha? As in Sakura Haruno the year old baby we've been gathered to speak about?" Mebuki nodded as she adjusted her hold on her daughter.

"Sakura the white haired fox and Sakura Uchiha are one and the same" Fugaku answered "Sakura Haruno is merrily the child who holds Sakura Uchiha's spirit—"

"Technically Sakura-chan holds the spirit of the nine tailed fox Shunsetsu-sama," Mikoto corrected, "it's been a thousand years Fugaku, she is no longer Sakura Uchiha, she is the nine tailed fox's sister, the white haired, nine tailed fox named Shunsetsu."

"I had forgotten about that," Fugaku said softly, "When she was a demon her hair was white, but when she gave up her powers to be human her hair turned pink…"

"And her name was changed to Sakura," Mikoto added with a nod of her head as if she was praising a student for answering a question right.

"What do you mean by 'it's been a thousand years'?" Shikaku asked

"Before she died, Sakura Uchiha gave a prophecy of her return," Mikoto answered, "She gave many prophecies, but none that had ever involved herself."

"What was this prophecy?" Kushina asked, her head tilted to the side, Mikoto smiled as she pulled out a scroll.

"I thought you couldn't read her scrolls to outsiders?" Minato asked with a raised eyebrow, Mikoto froze as she looked up into the narrowed eyes of her husband and glanced at her Hokage.

"The seal was broken when Sakura-sama returned;" Mikoto answered looking sheepish, "that was the prophecy given to each of us heiresses…" Minato nodded his head and the look Fugaku gave her said they'd talk about it later; Mikoto took a deep breath, found her place and began to read.

"'_From my last breath to my first, a thousand years shall pass_.'"

Mikoto read from the scroll

"'_On the night the spirit of fire shall attach without will, _

_My powers shall return in my infant shelf _

_And I shall be found. _

_The heir of fire will stand with death upon his back _

_And the healing princess shall flee should he die._

_Only these two shall save me and read my secrets, _

_Only they shall raise me once more. _

_The son of the heir and the second son of the crimson eyes _

_Shall become my brothers._'"

"The son of the heir?" Minato asked, his eyes suddenly locked onto the scroll that Mikoto was holding before he locked eyes with Fugaku. "You've never said anything about the woman giving prophecies about the heir's son," Minato said as he starred at his friend.

"I don't hold all of Sakura-sama's prophecies," Fugaku said, "I only know so much…"

"Fugaku isn't a direct descendent from Sakura-sama's best friend," Mikoto said as she turned to Minato "there for he knows only as much as the rest of the clan, which isn't munch."

"Are those who are decedents of this best friend really separated from everyone else in the clan?" Minato asked with a frown

"Does she have any other prophecies of this son of heir and second son of crimson eyes?" Kushina asked, drawing Minato's attention to the fact that it wasn't just their son who was mentioned; Mikoto smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes give me a moment," Mikoto answered as she searched through the scroll once more, "ah, here, the son of the heir is referred to as a fox and the second son of the crimson eyes is referred to as a blue bird." Everyone nodded their heads in understanding and Mikoto cleared her throat as she began reading the prophecy.

"'_Twelve years shall pass the birth of the flower_

_Before my brothers unite,_

_The yellow fox and the blue bird_

_Shall come to her side_

_With an old crow with one red eye._

_Together they shall stand against unique odds,_

_The yellow fox shall save their lives_

_But on the next national test_

_They shall go and scatter._

_The snake will return and mark the blue bird_

_And the old crow will teach the bird_

_His most powerful jab._

_The old toad shall teach the young fox,_

_And on the day the snake strike's out on his first home _

_His teacher shall fall with a promise._

_The blue bird shall chase after his opponent_

_The wounded tanuki,_

_But it is the flower that will stand between_

_The bird and the tanuki_

_Who seeks the blue bird's death._

_Through a fury of sand, the flower shall be pinned;_

_The blue bird will escape, _

_Too weak to fight this blood thirsty tanuki._

_The fox will come and strike back at the Tanuki,_

_Through sheer will of the fox's fire _

_Shall the young fox win this battle._

_However unable to fallow after the tanuki _

_As he escapes with his sister the wind,_

_The fox shall sleep for many days. _

_The blue bird will leave its home_

_For the power the snake promises;_

_The flower will weep and ask the fox for a promise_

_That will always haunt her. _

_After the fox leaves with the toad for knowledge_

_So does the flower steal herself _

_To meet the leader of her home,_

_The healing princess._

_The flower will ask the princess to teach her_

_And the princess shall agree._'"

As Mikoto sighed and placed the scroll onto the table silence echoed around her. She raised her eyes and looked from her husband, who was paler then paper; to Minato and Kushina, both looking as if they'd seen ghosts, to finally land on Shikaku. She could feel Mebuki tremble beside her as Kizashi tried to calm his wife as best as he could.

"So do we know who these heirs of fire, healing princess, heir's son and the second son of the crimson eyes are?" Shikaku asked, "I can guess who a few of them are, but I'm not sure if you'll like my answers…"

"We know that the healing princess is Tsunade the slug princess," Fugaku said as he leaned back in his chair, "this heir of fire is undoubtedly Minato-san." Shikaku's eyes widened and he starred horrified at his Hokage.

"You had meant to die when you were out there?" Shikaku asked, standing from his seat, "You had meant to seal the Kiyobi and die?"

"That was the plan," Minato replied, "fortunately it didn't go through, that woman stepped in and stopped me."

"And thank the gods she did!" Shikaku cried "What did you think would have happened to the village if you did die?"

"Sarutobi would most likely come out of retirement," Minato dead panned, "what concerns me at the moment is this man who is after Sakura-chan and what this kitsune has prophesied." Minato turned to Mikoto, "Was she ever wrong with her prophecies?"

"Only with your death," Mikoto said softly, "all others have come to be true… she even described the first and second Hokage's deaths with accuracy…"

"If Minato is the heir of fire," Kushina started, "then the son of heir should be Naruto, right?" Mikoto nodded her head, "and that one line… what was it again? 'Become my brothers with a crow with one eye'? Was that it?"

"Close enough," Mikoto said she searched for the line Kushina was speaking about, "you mean this line? '_Twelve years shall pass the birth of the flower before my brothers unite, the yellow fox and the blue bird shall come to her side with an old crow with one red eye.'_ Was that it?"

"Yeah, if the child of heir and the fox are one and the same," Kushina paused as she thought about it "and the second son of crimson eyes and the blue bird are one in the same—"

"Their descriptions," Minato whispered, "She's describing a team," Minato looked back at Mikoto almost eagerly "She described a yellow fox, a blue bird and an old crow with one red eye, what if they're not just descriptions but also names?"

"Then she knew you would think of that," Fugaku whispered

"She knew we'd eventually figure that out…" Kushina whispered

"'Crimson eyes' are the Uchiha," Shikaku said calmly "so how many boys are named after a bird in your clan?"

"To many," Fugaku mumbled softly

"She also said he was the second son of the crimson eyes," Minato quickly added "She didn't hint at anything else, just that he was a second son…"

"You don't think?" Kushina trailed off as she looked at Mikoto, worry and pity evident on her face

"I thought so…" Mikoto whispered with a sigh "there were many prophecies of this time in general, so I guess… I'm not… surprised…"

"You think she was speaking of Fugaku-san's second son? Sasuke Uchiha?" Shikaku asked softly, silence answered him "then who is this Tanuki? Or the snake? Or the crow with one red eye? Hell, who is she calling flower?"

"She said the snake will return and kill his teacher," Minato whispered as his eyes narrowed at nothing before him "his teacher will seal a promise and die, the snake will strike out at the village…"

"Is it just me or does it seem like everything in this prophecy is related to Konoha?" Shikaku mumbled, Minato straightened and smiled at Shikaku

"You really are a genius," Minato said with a bright smile "If her prophecy is revolved around Konoha, then it only makes since that the people she's talking about are from Konoha."

"Okay how many people do we know of that is like a Tanuki?" Shikaku asked, "I don't know about you but I'm drawing a blank on that one."

"What was it that she said concerning the Tanuki again?" Minato asked Mikoto softly,

"One moment," Mikoto said as she returned to scanning the prophecy once more, her soft murmurings of 'national test' and 'scatter' caught Minato's attention once more, even the whisper of 'powerful jab' raised a few flags. "Ah! Here: '_the blue bird shall chase after his opponent the wounded tanuki, but it is the flower that will stand between the blue bird and the tanuki who seeks his death.'_" Mikoto paused as she took a deep breath "ah… '_Through a fury of sand, the flower shall be pinned; the blue bird will escape, too weak to fight this blood thirsty tanuki'._"

"Through a fury of sand?" Kushina asked with a raised eye brow

"What else does it say about the Tanuki?" Minato asked

"Just that the fox beats him but is too weak to fallow him," Mikoto answered "it says here that the '_tanuki escapes with his sister the wind'_."

"So the Tanuki is involved with sand and wind huh?" Minato whispered softly as his eyes narrowed

"Minato" Kushina said as she turned to her husband "if she referred to our son as the fox, she's properly talking about the nine tailed fox."

"Then the Tanuki…" Minato started as realization dawned him "another jinjuriki…"

"One from the hidden wind village," Shikaku replied softly "now does she mean this jinjuriki actually has a sister whose element is wind or is she being metaphorical?"

"We'll figure that out later," Minato said, "Sakura Uchiha gave a prophecy of an attack on Konoha," Shikaku's eyes widened

"_Twelve years after the birth of the flower_," Shikaku repeated, "if only we knew who the flower was…" he groaned as he leaned back into his chair, "wait a moment, you said that Sakura was the container of this fourteen-teller right?" Mikoto narrowed her eyes at Shikaku for the nick-name but nodded her head all the same.

"So then since she sealed herself within _Sakura_ Haruno," Shikaku said with an odd gleam in his eye "she means Sakura is the flower."

"So eleven years from now," Minato sighed as he placed his folded arms on his the rounded table that they all sat around, "there is going to be an attack on the village…"

"Okay" Kushina said as she looked at the list she had made sitting before her "so far we know the 'healing princess' is Tsunade, the 'heir of fire' his Minato, the fox is Naruto, the blue bird is Sasuke, the flower is Sakura, and the Tanuki is a jinjuriki from sand…"

"The national test," Shikaku added after a moment of silence "she mentioned the national test twelve years after the birth of the flower, which means that this flower is twelve years old when she enters—"

"With the fox and the blue bird!" Kushina called out with a smile "a three man team!"

"The Chunin exams," Mikoto whispered, Shikaku nodded

"It's the only one that's the most likely to have a team of twelve year olds in it." Shikaku continued, "It also means that during these chunin exams we'll be attached by the snake, anyone wants to take a wild guess who that is?"

"If she was speaking of those who are from the village hidden in the leaves" Fugaku mumbled softly "then I can only think of one person in the village who is called a snake…" a tense silence filled the room

"Then the snake is Orochimaru?" Kushina asked unsure, Minato leaned back and nodded his head "then the crow with one red eye? Who's that?"

"How many people do you know of has a name that means crow?" Minato asked Kushina calmly, "more so out of that number, how many of them have _one_ crimson eye?"

"If 'crimson eyes' were referring to the Uchiha's Sharingan," Fugaku started "then this crow has one eye that holds the Sharingan."

"And only one shinobi comes to my mind…" Minato gave a sad smiled to his friend

"Kakashi Hatake…"

…

* * *

...

It had been five years since the Kiyobi incident, Sakura and Naruto still spent as much time as they could with each other; which just meant that every morning Kushina and Mebuki would spend the day together with a few other mothers and their children. Minato and Tsunade still constantly read the prophecies to the point they could almost recite them word for word. Minato had noticed that Sakura had managed to get the Yakamaka head's daughter as a best friend with Fugaku's youngest son as a friend as well; even Shikaku's son Shikamaru had become a friend to the two jinjuriki.

He was pleased that the only ones who knew about what happened with Sakura were her parents, a few Uchiha close to Fugaku and Mikoto, Kushina, Tsunade and Jiraya as well as himself. He knew that the Uchiha's would (and do) treat Sakura Haruno like a princess and there for never spill their knowledge of the little girl, Tsunade and Jiraya were wondering the country side and he didn't have to worry about them either; Sakura's parent's wouldn't spill a word either.

So when Minato had caught a few villagers glaring at little Sakura one day as she walked with her parents down the market street, he was more than just a little confused. Sakura had been nothing more than a sweet little girl, although a little odd for someone being five, she was just like any other child her age.

It didn't take him long to find out that some kids had bullied Sakura about her large forehead and hair color when no one else was around and that, as a result, the seal reviled itself on her forehead. With a big guest of wind that through the bullies several feet away from her, the children had ran to their parents saying that she did something strange with the wind when they hadn't done a thing to her. Rumors quickly spread that Sakura Haruno, the pink haired little girl, was a wind monster.

Minato sighed as another couple stood in front of him complaining about Sakura, ignoring the fact that the little girl was curled up in the back corner receiving treatments for her wounds by another medic nin, and saying that she was a monster who attached people for no reason what so ever.

"She should be locked away were she can't hurt anyone else!" the civilian woman snapped out "My little Ai didn't even do anything to her! I watched as Ai walked over to Sakura and asked if she would like some ice cream, after a couple minutes of trying to convince her; the brat shoved Ai away! She didn't even use her hands!"

"I've heard many stories involving Ai and Sakura," Minato replied softly "most of them entail Ai _insulting_ Sakura," Minato raised his hand when the woman tried to interrupt him "I've had some of my Anbu members fallow Sakura and stay close to her, they've all ways reported the same thing. It is Sakura who gets insulted and bullied not the other way around—"

"Are you saying that my little girl is a bully?" the woman asked with a snarl "Just because she isn't with your wife on a daily basis doesn't mean that Ai starts anything! How do you or I know that your Anbu haven't just fallen for one the brat's tricks?" Minato narrowed his eyes at the woman, what did she mean by tricks?

"I know Sakura, and I've had other's check her memories as well as your daughters." Minato replied softly, his knuckles bone white under his desk "I'm repeatedly told that Ai-chan flat out _lies_ to you and is anything but nice to Sakura."

"So the interrogation force is supporting the little monster?" the woman asked, "even to the extent of lying? How are we civilians supposed to feel safe if the government protecting us is corrupted?!" Minato closed his eyes and took deep even breaths; it would not do to lose his temper. "We know the Uchiha clan, Yamanaka clan and even the Nara clan all dot on her! Even _you_ are taken by her!" the woman's voice snapped out rudely "that child is a menace and a monster—!"

"That _child_ has shown no signs of violence what so ever!" Minato looked up to see that the medic Nin has had enough of the woman's grating voice. "I've gone through her mind a hundred times and I can tell you, _Mrs. Shinobu_ that Sakura has officially come to the point where she can no longer stand to leave her own home! If you had just opened your eyes when you arrived you would have seen her there!" the young woman waved a hand towards Sakura where she was curled up on the back couch looking like a corps. "She's terrified to even leave her room because of what your daughter and others have done to her! Tell me how is that right? Your daughter can beat someone half to death but the moment her victim fights back it's suddenly their fault? Like Ai is the sweet little girl who's never hurt another living being in her life? Do you have any idea what your daughter is truly like?"

"Are you saying that my daughter has gone out her way to hurt that monster?" the woman snapped back, "are you insinuating that my daughter is the monster and not that _freak of nature_ over there?!" Sakura flinched and curled in on herself even more, the medic Nin was just about to reply when Minato's hands slammed down onto his desk, making the sound echo in the office.

"That is enough," Minato glared at the shocked woman and the medic, "I will hear no more of this foolishness," Minato said coldly as he turned towards the woman "You do not understand everything that you know, which is understandable as to why you are so frightened; but your insistence on your daughter's innocents and Sakura's guilt is beginning to test my patients. In every single investigation that has ever gone on involving Sakura Haruno has only led to the fact that you civilians," here Minato turned to the man beside the ranting woman "and you shinobi, are blind to your children's ways and that you let your fear cloud your judgment."

The woman sent an icy glare at Minato, although it seemed to be directed more at his desk then at him; her husband only nodded his head at Minato. A grim line firm on his lips, a cloud blocking the man's eyes as he thought; it was a sign that the man knew of his daughter's lies and short comings. It was reassuring to know that Mebuki would get a firm scolding after her latest stunt. The civilian woman and her shinobi husband turned and left Minato's office, a deep scowl on the woman's face as she marched out of the Hokage's tower.

Minato let out a sigh as he stepped around his desk and walked towards Sakura, he waved at the medic away gently with a smile as he sat before little Sakura.

"Sakura-chan how are you feeling?" Minato asked softly as he tried to look into the little girl's eyes, but Sakura only let out a sigh and turned her head to face the dark wall. "That bad huh," Minato smiled, Sakura heaved another depressed sigh, "Sakura-chan would you like to go home to your parents now?" Sakura's head moved slowly as she turned it slowly towards him and after a moment of starring into his eyes she nodded her head. "You're not leaving until you say something, Sakura-chan" Minato smiled gently at Sakura, whose eyes widened slightly before she nodded her head again; a little more slowly than before.

"C-can" Sakura started, her voice small and hesitant "c-c-can I-I-I g-go h-home… p-p-please…?" Minato let out a sigh as he stood and offered the little girl his hand, immanently the medic Nin took a step forward.

"Lord Hokage you can't" she started, Minato frowned at the woman, Sakura had frozen in her movements, "If that woman or anyone else sees you escorting Sakura-san back home it'll only cause more trouble. The civilians will see it as you not believing them and they'll properly act out, most likely against Sakura-san."

"Meaning me just escorting her home would cause more damage then repair," Minato replied softly, looking like he either wanted to sleep and never wake up or go punch someone's lights out. The medic Nin nodded her chocolate covered head softly, a look of pity and regret on her face.

"Yes, based on what that woman had said, there must be a rumor going around that the shinobi families have taken to protecting Sakura." The woman looked down at the floor, "that woman said something about Sakura tricking someone… that means someone is spreading rumors about Sakura being able to trick others on to her side of things. Making those who weren't there or don't like her, think she hurts other children purposefully, instead of just defending herself." Minato let out a sigh

"The other clans won't simply stop their children from seeing Sakura," Minato replied softly "and the children who know _and_ _like_ Sakura won't accept leaving her alone for long. Frankly I'm amazed that Ai-chan has even found a point in Sakura's schedule where she _is_ alone." Minato looked down at the still frozen form of Sakura who was half way off the couch and half way on it; Minato let out another sigh and crouch before Sakura again.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but I can't walk you home, are you okay if Ms. Yamanaka takes you home?" Sakura looked over at the woman and slowly looked back at Minato, slowly and hesitantly as if she wasn't sure; Sakura nodded her head in a slow acceptance.

Several minutes later, Minato watched the brown haired girl and his son's best friend walk down the street; a wide birth forming for them. It wasn't just civilians who stepped out of the way as if afraid, some shinobi did as well, their children close as they kept a wiry eye on the tiny pink haired five year old. Minato only caught a few shinobi watching from roof tops and a few were in the street, these few weren't watching Sakura with fear; they were watching the crowds around her for anyone dumb enough to attach, Minato wasn't surprised when he caught sight of the Uchiha fan on several of their backs.

"Her life isn't going to be easy," Minato mumbled softly, it broke his heart that such a sweet girl could be treated so coldly just because of the lies of one jealous little girl.

Minato wasn't surprised that after that last incident Sakura's friends refused to ever let her be alone outside of her home ever again. It had gotten to the point where Sasuke and Naruto would race to Sakura's house first thing every morning with their mothers just so they could tell the other one that they were Sakura's guardians for that morning.

It only ended up in them sharing the duty of protecting the little pink haired girl, which always ended in them playing. Kushina and Mikoto making sure to leave at the same time every morning just so they could see their sons glare at each other and ask for Sakura to choose who got there first, only she was always too tired and always replied that it was a tie.

…

* * *

...

Minato watched as day after day, villagers made it pointedly clear that they wanted nothing to do with little Sakura Haruno; Even after she blatantly saved their children. Minato was truly impressed when he read the report about the explosion in the market place…

…

* * *

...

Sakura and her mother, Mebuki, were at a small children's stall for lunch one evening, it was bright and warm and Sakura was beyond happy. No one had said anything mean to her all day, so Sakura had asked her mother if they could get her favorite dish for lunch. They had just gotten their order when a couple had walked in and after a couple of minutes, at which Sakura heard a lot of whispers and felt like she was being watched, the young couple had started to loudly discuss about a bad smell.

"Mommy why are they so loud?" Sakura asked her mother innocently, her blond haired mother laughed gently, her green eyes creasing as she looked down at her daughter.

"Because they don't know how to be quiet about small things," Mebuki said as she tapped Sakura's nose, Sakura scrunched up her face and smiled shyly up at her mother. Mebuki wasn't deaf nor was she blind; she knew the couple had taken too loudly talking about Sakura in a roundabout way. So when the loud conversation just behind her stopped only to be fallowed with the feeling that someone was trying to set the back of her head on fire, Mebuki laughed and made sure her daughter didn't notice the glares.

"Honey what's wrong?" Mebuki asked when she noticed that Sakura had suddenly taken to being quiet and started fidgeting; Sakura looked up at her mother with a pathetic expression on her face.

"Bathroom…" Sakura mumbled softly, Mebuki starred for a moment, a smile twitching on her lips before she started laughing out right. "It's not funny!" Sakura whined "I really need to go!"

"A-all right!" Mebuki giggled out, a hand over her mouth as she stepped down from her seat. "Do you want my help?" Sakura tried to shoot her mother her best glare, which was anything but threatening and just flat out cute.

"No I'm mad at you," Sakura grumbled as she started towards the bathrooms, "I'm a big girl!" Mebuki tried very hard not to laugh, so she settled for a smile as she fallowed her daughter to the bathrooms. Sakura turned around to face her mother just outside of the bathroom doors, her hands on her hips as she tried to give Mebuki a pouty glare.

"Stay here," Sakura ordered as pointed to the floor before the door to the bathroom, "I'm a big girl!"

"Alright, alright," Mebuki smiled at her daughter, her hands up in a calming manner. "I'll wait right here for you," Mebuki said as she leaned against the wall just across from the girl's bathroom door, Sakura nodded, gave her mother a charming smile and entered the bathroom. Not even five minutes later Mebuki turned towards the rest of the restraint when she felt a threatening chakra come towards her, at the end of the hall was a young man with dark hair and eyes; at the corner of her mind Mebuki recognized the man as the one who was speaking loudly about a foul smell earlier.

"What do you want?" Mebuki asked calmly, a frown on her face. There was defiantly something wrong with him, he had stood at the end of the hall for a bit before she had spoken; he hadn't done anything more than glare at her.

"How can you stand her?" the man asked with a nasty snarl twisting his handsome face. "That girl is a monster, how can you pretended like nothing is wrong? How can you just smile and laugh like she's just a normal little girl?" Mebuki starred at the man with narrowed eyes, her hands crossed over her chest, her fingers bone white as they pressed into her arms.

"I'm her mother," Mebuki replied as she pushed herself off the wall and stood in the center of the hall protectively, "I don't listen to half assed rumors concerning my child."

"I've seen her through five children away from her twenty feet without using her hands," The man snarled at her, "How is that normal for any five year old child, especially coming from one of civilian inheritance?" Mebuki's eyes narrowed into slits as she starred at the man before her, how much research had this man done into her history to find that out? Mebuki didn't get the chance to reply before an ear splitting shriek pierced the air, forcing Mebuki's blood to run cold as she turned towards the bathroom.

Mebuki hadn't taken a step forward before a blast slammed her against the wall, Mebuki briefly heard things break and shatter with echoing screams of alarm and fear. Mebuki wasn't sure how long her vision was black, but the tilting of the world around her was her primary concern; until she realized that the wall in front of her was missing. Mebuki gasped in pain as she struggled to get onto her hands and knees, one hand gripped at her forehead where she swear she felt something run between her fingers.

The ringing in her ears was only drowned out by the soft sound of sniffing; forcing her body to turn Mebuki found her eyes landing a glowing, shimmering wall. A wall that looked like it was made from hundreds of thousands of tiny shards of amethyst and diamond dust, they turned and danced before her, reflecting light like a mirage. Focusing on the soft sniffing again, Mebuki looked beyond the wall to focus on an orb or rather the form of a woman in a flowing, billowing white dress floating in the air several feet above the ground and there in her arms was the tiny form of her daughter. Sakura was curled up on herself, her hands covering her face as she cried; the woman wrapped her arms around Sakura a little more tightly, lifting Sakura closer to her. The woman had waist long snow white hair, her skin was lightly tanned and the sleeves of her snow white dress fluttered around her form like wings.

"Sakura," Mebuki whispered, the woman's face snapped up and Mebuki gasped as the furious green eyes landed on her weak form. Tears gathered in the woman's eyes as she pressed Sakura tighter to her chest, a snarl twisting her heart shaped face as she locked eyes on the frozen forms around her; the walls of the bathroom none existent.

"What," the woman started, her eyes landing on the man who was talking to Mebuki just before the explosion "What did we do to you?" the woman asked, "What did we do to you?" the tears gathering in her eyes spilt forth.

"We've only minded our own paths; we've never done you any harm!" the man trembled on the ground, "We've never done anything wrong!" the woman cried, she took a few shaky breaths before she leaved her eyes on the people who gathered around the scene. "So why do you hate us?"

"Sakura," Mebuki said softly as she struggled to sit up, "Sakura can you hear me?" the woman turned back to Mebuki a possessive look on her face, Mebuki locked eyes with the strange woman, tears freely falling from both of their green eyes.

"My baby," Mebuki whispered softly, "please, give me back my baby…" the woman almost seemed to study her, Sakura sniffed a couple times and Mebuki almost missed the stuttered whimper of Sakura calling for her.

"Please…" Mebuki begged, the woman twitched and Sakura stirred softly in her arms, "please…" Mebuki begged again "my baby, please… give her back." The woman stiffened and glared at the just arriving shinobi, she wrapped herself even tighter around Sakura as if she could protect the tiny girl from people's eyes.

"We've never done anything wrong," the woman said calmly, glaring at a particle shinobi who landed in an offensive stance. "Yet you still try to kill us," the woman glared down at the man who still trembled in his place just a few feet from Mebuki.

"Sakura," Mebuki called again softly, the strange woman turned towards her "baby… please… wake up," Mebuki struggled to her feet, her knees trembling as she begged for her daughter's attention; Sakura hick-upped and the woman stiffened slightly.

"Sakura, baby, wake up…" the woman starred at Mebuki as if in challenge and for a moment or two, Mebuki didn't know if she could keep with the intensity of that heavy stare. After another hick up and sob from Sakura, the woman sighed and leaned towards the ground gently; as if she was sitting in a chair. Mebuki watched amazed as she placed Sakura on the ground, Mebuki watched as the woman lifted Sakura's chin gently and smiled at the tear streaked face of the tiny five year old girl.

"Your mother's waiting," the woman whispered softly, Sakura blinked up at her for a moment, "You are well and safe, no harm should come to you so long as I live." The woman kissed Sakura's brow and pushed her gently towards Mebuki, Sakura turned and caught sight of her mother.

"Mommy!" Sakura cried, Mebuki smiled and held her hands out to her daughter, her knees shaking. "Mommy!" Sakura called again running towards her mother with tears in her eyes, Mebuki flinched when she realized that the glowing wall hadn't fallen yet. She was relieved that Sakura just flew through the wall as if it were made from water; Mebuki couldn't help laughing as Sakura collided into her arms, tears streaming from her emerald green eyes.

"That lady was scary," Sakura whispered, "why did she call me a monster?" Sakura asked as she peered up at her mother, Mebuki gasped and collided to her knees; on her daughter's forehead was a five petal flower glowing brightly. She wrapped Sakura into her arms as tightly as she could without hurting her. Hearing startled shouts and a strangled scream, Mebuki quickly looked to her right and covered her daughter's eyes as best as she could. The white haired woman's face was twisted into a predatory snarl; her hand was out stretched to the man hovering in the air as if her long, thin digits were wrapped around his throat.

* * *

**Tell me what you think! I love messages! it lets me know that people are reading my stories!**


	2. Chapter 2

_The white haired woman's face was twisted into a predatory snarl; her hand was out stretched to the man hovering in the air as if her long, thin digits were wrapped around his throat._

"pu-pu-pu-ple-pleas-se!" the man begged through his lack of air, the woman's snarl deepened and her eyes darkened, Mebuki felt someone tug her into an embrace as if they could shield Sakura with just their bodies; Mebuki hid her face into the man's shoulder. She didn't want to see someone die so heartlessly. "I-I-I-I—"

"Were just going to kill a child?" the woman supplied, her voice alone bringing a cold that could freeze anyone's heart. "You were just going to annulated _several children _by blowing up this stall and everyone in it? You were just going to kill _thirty families_" the woman's hand tightened and the man scratched at his neck as his head tilted backwards, his dark eyes wide and horrified. The man's fingers scrapped against the skin of his throat, his voice thick and desperate as he tried again to beg for his life.

"Anyone who would kill a child for being different _does not have the right claiming to be human!_" Mebuki shuddered as she tried to cover her daughter's ears, but was horrified to find her daughter scrambling out her arms.

"I am Hagoromo's child," the woman snarled, "and anyone who threatens what is mine shall—"

"Wait!" Sakura cried out as she burst from her mother's and another Shinobi's suffocating embrace "wait! Please wait Ms.!" The woman turned her head towards Sakura, her eyes wide and her face blank.

"Please don't hurt him anymore!" Sakura begged, the woman starred at Sakura in surprise "Please don't hurt him anymore, please don't hurt _yourself_ anymore!"

"I am not hurting myself," the woman replied softly, her head tilted to the side as her eyes filled with confusion, but Sakura just shook her head; at this the woman lowered her hand slightly, her lips forming a firm, strait line. "How am I hurting myself?"

"b-because I can feel it," Sakura stammered out, her back straightening as she locked gases with the strange woman "I can feel it here," Sakura tapped her chest lightly.

"It hurts like I'm on fire or maybe like someone's squeezing my heart in their hands…" Sakura trailed off as the woman's face softened, she let the man drop mercilessly to the ground; the woman turned to Sakura and crouched before Sakura, a tear threatening to fall from her eye.

"Forgive me little one," the woman said softly, her hand ruffling Sakura's hair gently "I have lived in war for so long I have forgotten what peace is," the tear dropped from the woman's eye and she let out a heavy sigh.

"Do you know what a guardian is?" the woman asked as she kneeled before Sakura, the little girl shook her head and the woman smiled "All of humanity has a single guardian in one form or another, they do not always meet; so I am glad that after so many years I have finally found you" the woman beamed at Sakura "I am you're guardian."

"R-really?" Sakura asked, the woman nodded and smiled brightly at Sakura

"I am Hagoromo's only daughter, father was also called the god of shinobi and the sage of six paths, my name is Shunsetsu; The nine tailed human Kitsune." the woman said softly "see?" she turned around and Sakura giggled as nine white tails danced before her vision and tickled her face. Shunsetsu turned back around and patted Sakura's head once more, a sigh escaping her lips.

"Forgive me little one," Shunsetsu whispered softly "You are too young to understand what I am, but one day you will grow up and then you can summon me almost freely." Sakura starred up at the woman in wonder, "until then I'm afraid this whole day is just going to have to go away…"

"G-go away?" Sakura asked softly, Shunsetsu nodded her head and crouched before Sakura again

"Yes, I'm going to seal your memories of today until I deem it safe for you to remember, is that okay?" Sakura looked hesitant, "You will not be harmed and you will not wake until tomorrow morning, I'll place another, more pleasant memory to replace the events of today; okay?" Sakura nodded that she understood and was about to say something when Shunsetsu suddenly glowed brightly, forcing Sakura to shield her eyes. "I will always be with you, my child…"

Then everything turned dark for Sakura, she wobbled on her feet before she started to collapse. Mebuki never knew she could move so fast in her life, one minute the shinobi was holding tightly to her arms and the next she was catching her daughter.

Mebuki picked up her unconscious daughter and watched as the flower on her forehead slowed its spinning and then faded from view. It was then that she heard the sound of shattering glass, looking up Mebuki saw the beautiful wall slowly fall like rain drops in sunlight. When the tiny shards hit the ground they faded away as if they were water, Mebuki folded onto her knees as she wrapped one arm around Sakura and the other under Sakura's knees. She watched a few members of the police force pick up the man that the strange woman had held into the air, she watched as they glanced at her before they disappeared from sight. When Mebuki felt someone place their hand on her shoulder, she looked up into a pair of black eyes.

"Uchiha-sama?" Mebuki asked dumbly, she had met Mikoto and had heard of her husband Fugaku, but she had never met the stoic leader of the Uchiha clan.

"We will need to speak to you about what happened," Fugaku said as he turned his eyes to Sakura's sleeping form, "Yamanaka-san" Fugaku turned as a blond man approached him "Can you enter Sakura-san's head and make sure that the woman was speaking the truth?" the blond man gave Fugaku a look

"That'll depend on whether or not you meant that to be an insult on purpose or not." The young man dead panned, Fugaku just stared at him with a raised eyebrow

"I doubt you'd make it to clan head if you couldn't" Fugaku stated blandly, "I was merely asking if you had the time to do it."

…

Minato placed the file on the table, that little incident happened four months ago and it had been more or less peaceful for Sakura since then. The good news is that they found out the couple were hired to kidnap Sakura from Konoha, using whatever was the easiest way to get her out of the village. The couple didn't know who hired them, only the location in which they were supposed to drop Sakura off; dead or alive the person who hired them didn't seem to care. The white haired woman, Shunsetsu, had kept her promise to Sakura; she didn't remember anything that was slightly abnormal in the least, just that she was extremely happy because no one had said anything mean to her.

Minato sighed as he turned in his chair to look out over his village, another piece of good news is that tomorrow was Sakura's sixth birthday and in two months she'd be able to enter the ninja academy. That news was only good because it kept Sakura _and_ Naruto out of the civilian sector of the village, it would take up their whole day and they wouldn't have time to get in trouble with anyone who happens to not like them; for the exception of other children…

"Please let tomorrow be a good day," Minato whispered to the orange and gold sky above his village, the setting sun really did make his village seem as if it was a paradise. Hearing a knock on his office door Minato turned around to see his wife with his very tired son walk in, Minato couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at the sight.

"What is the occasion?" Minato asked as he stood up and walked around his desk so he could pick up his son; Minato wrapped one arm around Kushina and kissed her cheek.

"Sakura claims that she hasn't seen you in a while and would like it if you were with her tomorrow, even if it meant five minutes." Kushina said as she rested one hand on Naruto's back and wrapped the other around Minato's side. "She says that'll be your present for her,"

"So, me showing up is enough for her?" Minato asked before he shook his head "I'll still end up getting her something." Kushina smiled and tapped him lightly on his head

"She doesn't want you to get anything for her, she just wants' her friends to have a good day tomorrow: no presents are aloud." Kushina replied softly "that was her order," Minato raised an eyebrow at his wife

"Really?" Minato asked "When did you get this order?"

"Just before we left her," Naruto mumbled softly as he rubbed at his eyes tiredly "S-she s-sa—"Naruto paused as he yawned "—aid no presents…" Naruto's head thumped on his father's shoulder and he fell asleep almost instantly, Minato chuckled at his son.

"I guess we should go home now?" Minato asked as he led Kushina to the door of his office, Kushina hummed her acceptance and kissed Minato. Before Minato could do anything she deepened the kiss and then disappeared with Naruto, giving Minato a wink just before she left with a cloud of smoke; a smile spread across his face, he knew that smirk anywhere.

"My day just got better," Minato whispered as he closed his office door and quickly left the building.

…

_She was floating in darkness, she couldn't tell which way was which; just that it was blissfully warm. She was warm and that was all she needed, yet she still opened her eyes to look around her._

_She sighed as laughter started to sound around her, louder and louder until it was like she was in a cannon and hundreds of people where laughing around her; their voices echoing again and again, becoming louder and louder until they became so loud that she felt like covering her ears. That was when she was suddenly not in the dark anymore, a scene opened up in front of her like a budding flower._

"_Sakura," She could see a blond woman with a soft smile; she was dressed in a gray kimono top with a green coat over it._

"_Sakura, wake up Sakura" a head full of black hair, kind black eyes; the way the woman looked at her, it was like the woman was her older sister somehow._

"_Damn it Sakura! WAKE UP!" a fist was flying at her…_

Her eyes jerked open and she snapped into a sitting potion with a startled gasp, Sakura looked around herself in confusion for a moment before she realized that she just had a strange dream. Sakura sighed as she caught sight of her alarm clock, it was seven in the morning and she _really_ didn't want to wake up yet.

Sakura flopped back into her bed, covering herself up to her ears with her blankets; she couldn't help the feeling that her room was oddly cold. Sakura peaked over the edge of her blanket to look tiredly at her window, it was frosted over and for some reason that really didn't make her seem any happier. Sakura let out a frustrated sigh and buried herself underneath her blankets even further; it wasn't long before she was sleep again.

If Sakura had bothered to stay awake a little longer she would have seen the dark figure approach her bed cautiously. The dark figured kneeled next to Sakura's bed and gently placed his hand atop her buried head, a small smile quirked his lips upwards.

"Happy birthday love," the man whispered gently, "I know you said no presents, but it was the last gift you gave me; you finally got old enough for some special pieces now." the man pulled out a small box and placed it on Sakura's bedside. He placed a hand onto what little of Sakura's head was peeking through the blankets and smiled gently at the sleeping child before him.

"I wish I could take you away right now, but I'm not quite strong enough for that yet, I hope you don't mind." The man leaned forward and kissed Sakura's head gently "Just a few more years, love." He stood and placed a small card on her children's table before he headed for Sakura's slightly cracked open window, he paused and smiled back at the sleeping child and gave one last whispered reply before he disappeared. "I'll return love… promise."

…

Mebuki entered her daughter's bedroom at eight; she had wrapped herself up in her warmest clothes before she went to check on her daughter. When Mebuki entered her daughter's room she paused in the doorway, her green eyes wide. Quickly Mebuki rushed to her daughter's bed and ripped the blankets off her sleeping child, Sakura gasped and searched for her blankets tiredly. Mebuki sighed in relief and collapsed before her daughter's bed, she wrapped Sakura into her arms tightly.

"Mommy?" Sakura whispered, her body shivering in her mother's arms, Mebuki sniffed as she fought back her tears and pulled away from Sakura gently. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing sweet heart," Mebuki said as she cupped her daughter's cheek gently, "just a bad dream" Sakura nodded her head in understanding and shivered almost violently. "Oh! Uh… here!" Mebuki quickly wrapped her daughter up in her blankets, Sakura smiled at her mother before she yawned tiredly again.

"Do I have to be up yet?" Sakura asked softly, Mebuki smiled and held back her chuckle.

"No but would you like to sleep with daddy and me?" Sakura blinked before she smiled and nodded her head eagerly, Mebuki's smile grew and she picked Sakura and her blankets up from her small bed and turned to the door.

"What's that mommy?" Sakura asked, Mebuki froze before she turned to what Sakura had gestured too. "I said no presents," Sakura pouted at her mother, not noticing the dear frozen in head lights look on her mother's face.

"I know sweet heart," Mebuki said as she tried to head towards the door, "But those aren't from us," Mebuki started to kick herself as soon as she said it. Sakura had instantly stumbled out of her mother's arms and stumbled over to her small table, interest cloaked her entire face as she studied the small card.

"Sakura, sweetheart," Mebuki called softly; "Don't you want to get warm again?" Sakura looked up at her mother with a smile; she had re wrapped herself with her children's quilt.

"I wanna look at the card first," Sakura said as she took the small pink glitter covered card, the words 'happy birthday' were etched onto the front of the card with a unique looking cherry blossom tree, into her hands; Sakura sat on the floor and opened it. She gasped as the card showed her a view of a beautiful valley with a soft violin playing in the air, she could see the wind gently blow a few pink petals and leaves into a dance before it blew a warm gust accrues her face. Sakura giggled as she laid the card onto the tale so that it was open and the scene was still playing before her like a hologram and looked up at her mother, her cheeks pink and her green eyes alight.

"That was really pretty mommy," Sakura said excitedly, Mebuki gave her daughter a stressed smile and held out her hand. Sakura smiled warmly at her mother before she turned to her bed, took three steps, picked up the small present lying on her lamp post and returned to her place at the table.

"Can I open it?" Sakura asked her mother, but Mebuki wasn't given the chance to answer. A soft voice from the card gave permission and both Haruno's starred at it for a moment before it whispered consent again.

"That's so cool!" Sakura cheered with a bright smile towards her mother, "this is the best!" Mebuki starred at her child before she let out a sigh and kneeled next to her daughter. Wrapping Sakura up in her arms and placed the newly turned six year old girl in her lap, Mebuki nodded her head at her daughter. Sakura kissed her mother's cheek and carefully unwrapped her new present, lifting the lid Sakura's breath caught at the sight presented to her.

…

Kushina and Naruto shivered next to Minato on the Uchiha head's door step, Mikoto giggled and stepped to the side to let them in. Kushina and Naruto eagerly entered and after they removed their shoes, they stood in front of the small fireplace in the living room. Minato chuckled as he rounded the corner and starred at his wife and son, Mikoto went into the kitchen and quickly returned with a platter of hot tea.

"Thank you," Kushina said relieved at the sight of something warm before her "where is Fugaku-san and your sons?" Naruto eagerly gulped his down before he stopped and started trying to fan his burned tong; both women completely ignored his winning.

"Itachi is getting some training in and Sasuke is still in bed; Fugaku is at the office but he'll be home in about an hour when Sakura-chan comes by for her surprise birthday party." Mikoto answered before she started chuckling, "Sakura-chan said no presents, she didn't say anything about surprises," Minato decided that the strange and slightly evil looking glint in both women's eyes was something that Naruto shouldn't see just yet, so he quickly distracted his son.

It wasn't long before they heard a hurried knock on Mikoto's front door, getting up Mikoto quickly went to the door; Minato wasn't that far behind her while Kushina scolded Naruto for spilling his tea.

"Aha! Lord Hokage!" the messenger greeted happily, "I was sent here for you," Minato frowned slightly before he nodded at the messenger "Uchiha-sama requests that you get over to the Haruno house hold as soon as you can."

"What's happened?" Minato asked,

"Well I'm not sure," the messenger answered, Mikoto gave the young man a smile that to the untrained eye would have seemed charming and polite; Minato knew better.

"Please tell us what you do know," Mikoto all but ordered the young man

"y-yes ma'am," the young man stuttered "S-someone broke into the Haruno house again,"

"I understand" Mikoto said, her smiled polite, the young man bowed and quickly left. "Again this year?" Mikoto asked "doesn't he ever get tired of showing up? I mean she's always asleep when he does it, so what's the point of doing this?"

"Perhaps it's a double edged sword," Minato answered "Sakura get's a present and he gets to scare the crap out of everyone else." Mikoto's smile was flat out frigid, Minato quickly put his shoes on and shunshined out of the house; he knew that expression and he did not have any intention of staying behind to watch Mikoto get as cold as ice.

…

When Minato arrived at the Haruno house he saw several Anbu speaking with Fugaku before they turned to him.

"What happened?" Minato asked worriedly, Fugaku nodded his head in greeting and the Anbu bowed before Minato. "Was it him again?"

"It would seem that someone broke into Sakura-sama's bedroom early this morning," Minato looked at the young man with the bone mask of a bird, by his wording; Minato knew that the young man was an Uchiha. "Nothing seems to have been taken and no one was harmed," Minato looked from the kneeling Anbu to Fugaku, who sighed, to the Anbu to back to Fugaku.

"Then what was the point of breaking into Sakura-chan's room?" Minato asked, as Mebuki, her husband, Kizashi, and Sakura stepped out of their house; Fugaku nodded his head towards the small family.

"Lord Hokage," Mebuki said, relief relaxing her facial features and her shoulders, "I was beginning to wonder if you'd show this year." Before Minato could say anything, Sakura eagerly started waving her new present around

"Look what I got!" Sakura cheered as she waved something towards Fugaku, "Thank you lord Hokage!" Sakura let Fugaku take hold of the small item as she continued to bounce around happily, Minato stared at Sakura for a moment before he turned to look at Fugaku; Fugaku was unsurely pale as he starred at the small item.

"That's very sweat of you Sakura-chan" Minato said as Sakura wrapped her tiny hands around his fingers, "but you ordered me not to get you anything," Sakura looked up at him in confusion for a moment.

"Mommy said it's not from her," Sakura said slowly, "Uchiha-chan said he didn't either, you're what's left." Minato bit his lip and looked up at Fugaku, who held the trinket out to him. It was a small hair ornament; a group of small cheery blossoms surrounded one large blossom that had several diamonds in its center with a golden ring to keep them in place. Minato was amazed how much the ornament looked like the Uchiha crest, as carefully as he could, Minato picked up the ornament and examined it further. It was identical to the piece Sakura received on her first birthday.

"Mommy, do you know who got that for me?" Sakura asked her mother with a frown on her heat shaped face.

…

_Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki starred at his nine creations from where he laid on the ground, he was dyeing and leaving his nine best creations behind to deal with humanity; that wasn't very smart of him._

"_Father," Kurama whispered from his place, "Someone is coming…"_

"_Perhaps you should flee…" Hagoromo whisper softly, his nine creations raised their eye brows at him, "Of course not…" Hagoromo sighed "I wish my sons would stop bickering, it's ridiculous…"_

"_This is not one of your sons…" Matatabi whispered, he stood and snarled to a location just outside of the circle of demons "He's one of us… but… he's not one of us… his sent is strange…"_

"_Hmm?" Hagoromo turned and looked at his flaming, two tailed cat "What does he smell like?"_

"_Like blood" Matatabi whispered, "like fire… like smoke… like blood… like death. He smells like… like…" Matatabi stopped as he glanced back behind himself, slightly unsure._

"_Like me…" Kurama whispered softly, he stood and readied himself, his ears lay back "Why does he smell like me, father?" Hagoromo didn't get the chance to answer before a bright orange and white light exploded in the direction that the two tailed cat was facing. Hagoromo felt Shukaku cover him with his sand, the one tailed sand spirit was always over protective of him. Hagoromo patted his first creation's hand gently as he used it as a crutch sit up, Shukaku was very careful in using his sand to help his father up. Hagoromo was surprised to find a large glowing orange mass in the place where the light had come from, it felt the same as Kurama's chakra, but the young kit was crouching close to the ground next to him._

"_Who are you?" Hagoromo called out, Matatabi growled lowly at the mass,_

"_Ugh…" a voice groaned painfully "I went to fare…"_

"_Who are you?" Hagoromo called out, he sat the orange mass seem to turn and then he saw the black outline of a fox's face—it was Kurama's face._

"_Father…" the mass whispered, "I'm sorry father…" Hagoromo lifted an eyebrow at him; "I got sealed in a gutsy brat…" the orange mass was so obviously tired._

"_What happened?" Hagoromo asked, the orange mass blinked slowly at him._

"_Naruto is what happened," the Orange mass nearly snarled before becoming tired once more. "Gutsy brat how dare he… ask for this, I should have killed him… when I had the chance…"_

"_What happened?" Hagoromo asked again, "Why are you like that?" the orange mass looked away from him as if ashamed, "your Kurama from another time line aren't you?" the orange mass, future Kurama, heaved a heavy sigh._

"_The future isn't that… bright for us tailed beasts…" the orange mass whispered softly, "a man tried to create Shinju…" Hagoromo stiffened at this "and failed…" Hagoromo let out a sigh, "at the price of the brats' home… he asked me to save her…" Hagoromo looked back up at the orange mass; the other tailed beasts were still wiry of him and kept a tight circle around their creator._

"_Save who?" Hagoromo asked, the orange mass turned back to his creator,_

"_Forgive me father…" the future Kurama whispered, "I hadn't meant to come so far back… but she needed a healer…" Hagoromo watched as a form began to take shape within the orange mass of what was left of Kurama. Little by little Hagoromo and the others saw a small human like shape get closer and closer to them; then suddenly the form fell out of the orange mass and hit the inky black ground with a heavy thump. _

"_Who is this?" Hagoromo asked as Shukaku allowed him to get closer to the tiny bleeding form, it was obviously female; but she was weak and slowly dying, if something didn't get done quickly not even Kurama could save the young woman._

"_A human," Matatabi growled lowly at the tiny form._

"_Her name is Sakura Haruno…" the orange mass whispered softly, "She saved us many times with nothing in return… but now…"_

"_You had only meant to go back in time to find a healer for this girl?" Hagoromo asked doubtfully, as Shukaku brought him just close enough to catch a glimpse of something odd for a human being. "Why does she have pink hair?" he whispered softly, the orange mass before him barked out a heavy deep laugh. _

"_That is a good question master…" future Kurama replied softly, "She was my last host's teammate… and… hopeful mate…" Hagoromo looked up into the inky orange and black face of the orange mass that, it broke his heart that his most stable creation would be reduced to this huge tired mass._

"_Your last host?" Hagoromo asked, "what was it you called him again?"_

"_A gutsy brat," Kurama dead panned, "he wanted nothing more… than to save her…"_

"_But you can't?" Matatabi asked from his place close to the circle, "Since when can you not heal anything?"_

"_Since she has two souls…" Kurama replied, "The other one doesn't like me… and won't let me heal her… completely…"_

"_Interesting…" Hagoromo murmured softly, "did you try asking her?" Kurama blinked at him before he looked away with a sigh, Hagoromo chuckled at the mass. "What do you want of me?"_

"_It was not you… I was seeking help from…" Kurama whispered softly, "It was this girl's… teacher…"_

"_And what went wrong with your jutsu?" Hagoromo asked, he sounded as if he was about to lecture poor little Kurama_

"_Too much urgency…" Kurama replied grumpily "The brat… was insistent… he'd give his… life for her…" Hagoromo smiled up at his future Kitsune, "She was his… everything…"_

"_I will help you with this girl," the mass turned back to him and blinked again slowly, _

"_You are too week…" Kurama replied_

"_So are you…"_

"_She could save you…" Kurama said, seemingly straightening, "I could try to save her again… but…"_

"_You'll cease to excise…" Hagoromo replied with a click of his tong, "I have no intention of living much longer then I have already—" but the orange mass pulled the strange girl back into himself._

"_That wasn't necessary," Hagoromo said as he starred up at the sad smiling kitsune, "You'll really die for her?"_

"_To repay my debt," Kurama answered, "and… to keep a promise… stupid brat…" Kurama mumbled the last part as he turned away from his creature, but even Hagoromo could hear the affection the fox had for his last container._

"_You've grown," Hagoromo replied softly, the older Kurama turned to look at him and gave a smile that if on a small human child, would have looked like he was proud of the complement and embarrassed of it at the same time._

"_She's accepted…" Kurama whispered softly, slowly he began to shrink away from his creator and Shukaku and the others continued to advance towards the shrinking Kurama. Before he completely disappeared around the female Kurama gave his creator a soft sad smile. "I've adjusted her memories… to seem more like… premonitions then memories… she also has to restart…"_

"_You made her become a child in addition of saving her life?" Hagoromo asked with a raised eye; in response the pink haired woman slowly shrank away as the orange glow still pulsed around her with Kurama's face still showing. _

"_You're a fool…" Matatabi mumbled looking away from the shrinking girl, the fox laughed softly at this; a tear slipping out of his eye to hang off his nose almost mockingly._

"_The boy… rubbed off on me…" Kurama whispered with a smile as the tear finally fell and splashed Hagoromo in the face._

"_Thanks," Hagoromo said sarcastically, "You plan on telling me what you're doing?" Hagoromo asked as he noticed that the girl was at least six years old now and had nine shiny tails wrapping around her legs protectively; Kurama smiled at him._

"_She still needs… your magic… father…" Kurama disappeared into the tiny new born girl with a soft chuckle; Hagoromo huffed impertinently as Shukaku gently caught the tiny baby from falling to the hard floor._

"_At least she's cute…" Matatabi whispered as he sniffed the tiny form, Hagoromo snorted and reached a hand out, "father?"_

"_Oh relax; Kurama healed me enough," Hagoromo replied with a smile, "you grow up to be quite sneaky." Hagoromo said as he turned to the young kit trying to sniff the tiny baby secretly, Kurama's eyes winded and he shrank away slightly. Hagoromo laughed and allowed his hand to glow green as he pressed his hand over the softly whining baby girl. Shukaku lifted the tiny bundle closer to Hagoromo as they returned to the circle that Hagoromo had planned to die in._

"_Congrats everyone," Hagoromo announced as he sat in the center of the ring, he held tiny bundle in the air. "You all got a new sister!" Hagoromo watched as each of his creations stepped forward and sniffed the tiny baby, only Matatabi got too close and the baby Bijuu pulled out one of his whispers. As Hagoromo laughed, Matatabi turned away from the girl and pouted as he faced the darkness of the large, endless chamber._

_Kurama starred at the tiny girl for a moment before he turned away, much to the baby's disappointment; Hagoromo quickly wrapped his arms around the suddenly crying girl and tried to calm her. Kurama sighed and laid on the floor tiredly, he really didn't want anything to do with the child that would eventually be the cause of his death. But when Hagoromo placed the crying bundle near him, she started to play with one of his tails and started laughing; Kurama lifted his head and looked back at the tiny baby and his creator._

"_See? She's not half bad," Hagoromo said as he sat on the ground a few feet away, Kurama pushed himself up onto his hunches and watched as the girl tried to catch one of his tails._

"_I have to go back to my house, I'll return soon." Hagoromo said suddenly as he stood up, "I'll be back tomorrow morning…" Hagoromo watched as Kurama apparently ignored him as he decided to dangle the very tip of one of his tails before the baby; she laughed and tried to catch the tails. Hagoromo smiled and disappeared from sight, an hour later and the new member of the Bijuu family was asleep against Kurama's front paw sucking on one of her own tails in her sleep._

"_Is she supposed to be doing that?" Matatabi asked as he lowered his face down to look closely at the baby, he didn't feel like getting another one of his whiskers ripped out; which is why he waited until she fell asleep to get close to her a second time._

"_I'll become concerned when she start's chocking," Shukaku replied, "She seems to like Kurama the most." Kurama shot his brother a half hearted glare before he looked back down at the sleeping baby._

"_What's her name going to be?" Matatabi asked as he sat a few feet away from Kurama and his temporary charge._

"_Stupid," __Gyūki __dead panned, "didn't you hear the other Kurama?"_

"_Yes I did," Matatabi replied calmly, "but the name Sakura Haruno belongs to humans, not demons." Matatabi gave the eight tailed ox a smile, "So I ask again, what's her name going to be?"_

"_Why not Maisha?" a four tailed monkey asked "Or Hansha? Oh! Maybe—"_

"_No you stupid monkey," Matatabi snapped, "Our new little sister is a girl not a pet, think of something better Son Gokū."_

"_I'm not stupid!" Son Gok__ū__, the monkey, snapped back "You asked for names so I thought of some!"_

"_Why not Hanako?" a six tailed slug asked, "It's feminine enough for a girl…"_

"_Saiken that's a human name," Matatabi replied "again she is a demon, not human."_

"_She was human," replied the soft voice of their bug like brother, "it fits her perfectly…"_

"_Not really Ch__ō__mei," Matatabi replied again, "each of us has a unique name, so why can't we think something up for her?" Matatabi asked, his two tails swishing behind him_

"_Because we're all boys," Shukaku dead panned, "we don't know any other female names other than the ones that involve flowers, spring and couple other useless stuff…" Shukaku slowed as he thought about what to call her the girl, he was interested in picking out names but he wanted to know what Matatabi thought of before he shot his mouth off._

"_Why not Mizuna?" Isobu asked, he looked like a giant turtle_

"_No," Matatabi deadpanned "next suggestion?"_

"_You're picky," a horse stated bluntly, "We could suggest something like Nikko and you'd still shut it down—"_

"_Yeah because, again, that was a hideous name." Matatabi replied calmly, "It has to be unique, like she is, something unique like—"_

"_You?" Kurama asked from behind the two tailed cat_

"_Yes," Matatabi replied without thinking, it took two seconds before Matatabi rounded on Kurama with a snarl. "No you idiot!" the only reason Matatabi didn't launch himself at Kurama was because the tiny white bundle was awake and trying to play with his swishing tails._

"_We could name her Tsukiho or Hoshiiko," Shukaku chuckled out, "but I doubt a perfectionist like yourself would agree," Matatabi sat starring at the tiny baby for a moment. His tails tickled the very edge of her figure tips before flicking out of her reach; Matatabi was amused as the tiny baby tried to catch him until her own tails caught her attention._

"_Yo Mata," Shukaku called, "Did you hear me?"_

"_Yeah," Matatabi said calmly, "Right thought, wrong name," Shukaku growled at the distracted cat._

"_So what then? What about Chiho? Hanachi? Chiharu? Hochiko? Honachi?" Shukaku rattled the names off quickly "Do any of these catch your attention?"_

"_Nope," Matatabi replied calmly, Shukaku thought about sending a wave of sand at his brother just to see whether or not the fiery cat would go out._

"_You like blood way too much," Saiken mumbled softly, "Couldn't you come up with something that doesn't have blood in it?"_

"_Why don't each of us give a name we think would suit her?" Kurama asked, "I'd like something that involves spring but would also go well with her new hair color."_

"_Her hair is pink—" Son Gok__ū__ dead panned_

"_What do you mean new hair color?" Matatabi asked with a raised eye brow, _

"_After the transformation her hair turned white." Kurama replied calmly, he wrapped his tails around the baby girl and gently lifted her into the air so that she'd be at eye level with everyone but Ch__ō__mei and Isobu._

"_But when she arrived she had pink hair," Isobu mumbled as Kurama lowered his tails to show his two shortest brothers._

"_Why'd her hair turn white?" Ch__ō__mei asked_

"_Perhaps it's because of the demonic energy that she just acquired?" Koku__ō asked_

"_You think she was under that much stress?" Chōmei asked softly_

"_Hay didn't you say that she has two souls?" Gyūki asked the fox next to him_

"_No that was my future self," Kurama said_

"_You think we're starring at the characteristics of the other soul?" Saiken asked softly_

"_No, I think that when the future Kurama," Gyūki stressed the ward 'future' just for Kurama, "forced the healing and shrinking onto the girl that the two souls molded into one and that this is somehow what came out of the two…"_

"_Okay so Sakura has pink hair but the other soul didn't?" Isobu asked "How does that make senses?"_

"_It just got done paling out just recently…" Kurama said as he eyed the tiny white haired girl who looked like a fox, she was a part of himself… she was like his daughter, not his sister…_

"_I can see that," Matatabi shot back at Kurama, "but we still haven't found a name for her." _

_When Hagoromo returned to the chamber where his nine creations were he found them all in a circle talking with the tiny bundle sleeping in Kurama's tails, even the fox was out cold as he curled around the tiny child. Getting closer to the softly talking group Hagoromo listened in on the conversation_

"_Yuriko?" that Saiken_

"_No" Matatabi was being picky again_

"_Mayonaka?" defiantly Shukaku_

"_How does that fit?" Is Matatabi against everyone?_

"_Oh I know! Inna Tamashi!" that was Son Gokū, _

Silence…

"_Not even close…" at least Shukaku rejected that one_

"_Okay something that would involve spring," Matatabi said as he stood and began to pace, "but would compliment her hair…" Hagoromo watched as his creations actually stopped and thought about a name, it didn't take him long to realize that they were trying to come up with a name for their new sister._

"_How about Shunsetsu..." Hagoromo suggested in a soft voice, he hoped that because he was currently hiding behind Kurama's ear they wouldn't notice that it was his voice. Matatabi snapped around and quickly sat before Kurama like an obedient child, Hagoromo sagged at little that he couldn't quite trick them; then again they always knew where he was. _

"_That's a wonderful name!" Matatabi said with a very feline looking smile, "we couldn't think up of anything so I'm glad you came up with such a good name!"_

"_Didn't Chōmei say something similar earlier?" Shukaku asked Kokuō who sat next him, _

"_I doubt he was actually listening," the horse sighed and shook his head softly at his brother, "I think he was just stalling until father got here."_

"_How'd you come up with that one?" Matatabi asked, deliberately ignoring his brothers._

"_Well it's spring right now," Hagoromo said as he slid down Kurama's shoulder and landed on the young fox's tail. "Sorry Kurama,"_

"_It's alright," Kurama answered as his tails made a set of stairs down to the tiny new Bijuu. "You were saying?"_

"_Well its spring outside right now," Hagoromo said as he sat next to Kurama's foot and picked up the squirming baby girl. "And we're having a late snow, so when I came here and saw you lot thinking up names, I figured it was worth a shot."_

"_Well I like it," Matatabi said, his tails swishing behind him, "her new name is Shunsetsu… spring snow…"_

"_That's a fitting name," Kurama said as he looked down on the tiny baby, she giggled and started sucking on one of her tails. "Is that a good thing?"_

"_I wouldn't think so," Hagoromo said as he replaced the baby's tail with a new toy. "Although you did the same thing Kurama, so I guess it can't be that bad for her."_

"_No but that explains so much," Shukaku said with a smirk, Kurama narrowed his eyes and gave deep growl._

"_Easy boys," Hagoromo said, "each of you did something when you were young that could be considered strange, Shukaku you're in the same boat as Kurama—you used to bite at your tail."_

"_That's worse than sucking on his tail," Son Gokū replied with a smug grin,_

"_Son Gokū you used to try an suck on all of your tails," Hagoromo said, "Saiken and Isobu didn't want to wake up for anything other than eating—"_

"_So that's why Isobu is so lazy," Kokuō replied softly, as he looked at the slug next to him "he gets it from you." Saiken blew a bubble at Kokuō in response, he didn't feel like getting up from where he lay; he was too tired._

"_Kokuō it took you nearly three times as long as everyone else to stand," Hagoromo said "for strange reason you just liked to roll and crawl everywhere you wanted to go." Matatabi snickered softly next to Gyūki. _

"_Gyūki couldn't speak for nearly twice as long as everyone else because he liked to try and eat one of Matatabi's tails." Hagoromo watched as Matatabi glared at Gyūki and quickly swished his tails to his other side as if to protect them. "Chōmei still likes to curl up into a ball as he sleeps, because he thinks one of you will try and eat him…" Matatabi and Shukaku decided that the floor or ceiling was very interesting. "and Matatabi," the cat sat at attention, waiting patiently for what his creator would say about him; he was fairly sure that he hadn't done anything to bad. Considering that Hagoromo saved him for last._

"_You're obsessed with control and always being right," Hagoromo dead panned as the cat slouched the old man couldn't help but smile at each of his creations. "Each of you did something strange when you were younger, and some of you still do. That's a part of growing up, no one in this world is perfect, and so I don't expect any of you to be perfect."_

"_Aren't you perfect?" Chōmei asked softly, Hagoromo gave a heartfelt laugh at the shy little bug beside him._

"_Oh no," Hagoromo said with a wide smile "especially me, I'm only human; I'm full of all kinds of faults."_

"_Like what?" Matatabi asked as he settled onto the ground, "What are your faults, father?"_

"_Well…" Hagoromo thought about it for a moment, "Well I have too much pride and foolishness. I had too much pride in my sons, I had spoiled them and now they fight constantly. I had created all of you without thinking about how you would feel once I passed, and for that I am sorry."_

"_But it's like you said," Chōmei said after a couple of minutes, "You said you're only human, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"_

"_I suppose that'll depend on the people you meet," Hagoromo answered "there are all kinds of people in this world, some good and some bad."_

"_Is she going to be a bad person?" Isobu asked just as softly as Chōmei, he was starring at the yawning baby in Hagoromo's arms, "We know nothing about her, how do we know that she was a good person?"_

"_Well," Hagoromo started as he sat back and thought about it for a moment, "The future Kurama said that she had saved his container many times and that she had even saved him, without any payment or request. She had saved him without anything in return, until now…"_

"_So she is one of the good ones?" Matatabi asked softly_

"_I don't know," Hagoromo answered, "we will find out soon enough…"_

…

Minato read another section of the diary and was starting to nod off in his seat when his door slammed open, jumping out of his chair Minato launched to his feet with two kunai knifes in each hand at the ready. Blinking his blurry eyes several times, Minato starred at one red faced Kushina, an irritated looking Mebuki Haruno and a scared looking Sakura and Naruto. As the young mothers quickly walked over to the couch in the corner of the room, Minato watched as another young couple entered his office. Both parents looking quite vexed and even their daughter who they brought with them was sulking slightly as she was pulled along with her mother into the office.

"What's going on?" Minato asked hesitantly unsure if he wanted to know what was going on, he was grateful when Kushina helped him tuck the scrolls away quickly.

"We're sorry for barging in like this Lord Hokage," the young man apologized quickly

"I'm not!" the mother snapped as she glared at her husband before she turned stern eyes on to Minato. "That damned child did it again!"

"Did what?" Minato asked dumbly

"It's a misunder—" the husband started

"She hurt Ai-chan again!" the woman quickly cried, cutting off her husband and acting quickly she pulled her daughter forward and showed Minato the deep, _smooth_ cut on the girl's left arm. "Look what that girl did to my daughter!"

"Look what your daughter did to Sakura!" snapped Mebuki as she pointed to the tiny child huddled up on the couch with Naruto standing protectively in front of her. Even from his place Minato could see the many scraps and cuts on Sakura, even the places where parts of her clothes were torn and some blood had gathered on her head were a small patch of hair was missing. Standing up Minato quickly looked between both children and quickly rushed over to Sakura.

"Get a medic!" Minato snapped out the open door at a passing chunin, who dropped what he was doing and ran away quickly. Minato quickly kneeled before Sakura and pulled her into a standing position, examining her wounds quickly Minato saw that the wound on her head wasn't serious, but the small, smooth, cut on her hip could get serious if it wasn't tended to quickly.

"I'm here!" cried a voice just as Minato turned around to call for another medic, looking at the woman Minato quickly stood and backed away from Sakura; taking Naruto in his arms as he backs away. The medic rushed to examine Sakura and quickly gasped at the damaged.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Naruto asked quickly as he squirmed in his father's arms "What's wrong with Sakura-chan?"

"These are wounds from a Kunai and shiriken!" the medic cried as she swept Sakura into her arms quickly "She needs to get to the hospital right NOW!" Minato gave Naruto to Kushina and quickly took Sakura from the medic as she headed for the door.

"I'll take her," Minato said quickly "I'm faster," and then Minato was quickly out of sight, heading for the hospital quickly.

"So my assumptions are correct," the woman snarled at the empty space where the Yondaime once stood, as Kushina rounded on the woman, ready to start putting the woman in her place, Mebuki stepped forward between the two mothers. Quickly placing one hand on Kushina's mouth and the other on her shoulder, Mebuki had effectively silenced the woman for the time being.

"Reacting is exactly what she's looking for," Mebuki said softly, "Its best for one of us to wait outside to avoid conflict," Kushina moved Mebuki's hand from her mouth and sent a pointed glare at Ai's mother, but before she could say anything Mebuki quickly continued. "I think it best for us to wait outside, Kushina-san."

"What?! Why?!" Kushina nearly roared

"To give space between us and keep the situation from getting any worse than it already is," Mebuki answered "we need to keep cool heads right now, especially in front of the children." That got Kushina's attention; she looked down at softly crying Naruto as he clutched himself to her side and buried his head in her shoulder. Calmly drastically, Kushina gave one last glare to the woman and walked right out the door of Minato's office.

"I'm going to the hospital," Mebuki said as she closed the office door, "the Anbu should make sure she doesn't touch anything that she shouldn't." Kushina nodded her head "If she comes out don't react to her, just ignore her and if you must, _walk away._"

…

Minato landed at the hospital doors and quickly entered the hospital, after shouting for a doctor Minato watched as the medics rushed around Sakura and quickly disappeared with her down the hall. After waiting for an hour Mebuki had arrived just in time as Sakura's doctor told them that she was beat by at least four others before she apparently fell down, where they continued to beat her. At some point after that, someone had decided to do some throwing practice on her; they had even tied her hands up so she wouldn't run away.

"What monsters would do this?" Mebuki asked trembling, who could do that to another human being?

"There's something else as well," the doctor whispered softly, catching both parent's attention, "her nervous system was completely disabled and I don't think she was awake during the attach…" Minato's brows forwarded as he nodded his thanks to the doctor.

"When can she leave?" Minato asked softly, the doctor shifted in his place slightly.

"If she lives, not for the next month…" he answered, Mebuki sucked in a deep breath and steadied herself against the wall. "She was in critical condition, she's luckily to be alive…" the man paused as a thought entered his brain "In fact, she might not live after this..." Mebuki nodded her head and quickly took a seat, the doctor bowed to her before he quickly left. It took everything Mebuki had to not cry her eyes out, Minato sighed and thumped against the wall; silence echoed throughout the hall.

"I see…" Minato whispered before his eyes winded and he took a deep breath, "where are Kushina and Naruto?"

"Still at your office," Mebuki answered softly, Minato's eyes widened and he disappeared from sight.

…

When Minato arrived at his office he saw that the civilian woman and her daughter were sitting on the couch with pouts, both with a crimson hand print on their faces.

"What happened?" Minato asked the husband, the man looked at him quilted for a moment before he answered.

"Ai made an unnecessary comment," the man answered slowly "Naruto-kun snapped back at her and after a moment of arguing Ai took a swing at him which Naruto-kun beat her to it and slapped her first. My wife tried to interfere with the intention of hitting him back but Kushina beat her too it. I had managed to separate both women before it could get worse." Minato blinked at the man and nodded his head in thanks; he turned disapproving eyes onto the women and her child before he raised an eye brow at his open office door. Beyond which sat Kushina and Naruto both sat with pouts of their own; their cheeks beat red and their eye brows twitching.

"You two can come in now," Minato said to his wife and son, both bounded up to him with grins. When Kushina sat down in one chair and placed Naruto in her lap, the civilian woman and her daughter sat in the other. "Naruto, Ai, why don't you two go sit on the couch." Both children looked up at him, Naruto quickly left his mother's lap to do as he was told; Ai's mother kept a firm hold on her.

"You made the choice Ms. I did not," Minato said to the young mother, she only adjusted her weight slightly before she tucked her daughter closer to her; Minato sighed and began with his plan.

"I have a story for you Ms. Shinobu," Minato said as he turned to the young wife and mother, she locked eyes with him defiantly. "There is a child minding her own business in the park, she soon comes upon a group of four other children. Not wishing to catch their attention she steps out of their way and bows her head, only the group had decided to target her. They began with verbal assaults on the shy girl before they started actually hitting her, eventually the little girl falls but the four other children don't seem to mind; they keep beating her. Sometime later they decided to start practicing their aim with their Kunai knifes and shiriken and they decided to use the girl as their target. Tying her up so she won't run away, the children continued to practice their throwing—they were using real Kunai and shiriken." Throughout his speaking, Minato had noticed that Ai was a little pale and shaking slightly in her mother's lap, the girl's mother didn't seem to notice although her father had.

"Once the children got bored with their practice," Minato continued mercilessly, "the children untied the girl, but she was to week to do anything other than lay on the ground. The group leaves the girl alone where they had practiced on her, what they didn't know is that several of their weapons had in fact caused great amount of damage to—"

"Will you get to the point please?" the woman asked, her tone of voice implying that she had better places to be.

"The girl is close to death," Minato dead pans, Kushina took in a sharp breath and the man looked like he might fall over; his wife twitched slightly.

"How would you feel if Ai was that girl?" the woman tightened her grip on Ai, defiance still shown in her brown orbs, but so did fear. "What would you do if Ai was hospitalized and placed at death's door step because of the inhuman behavior of four children?" the woman looked away from Minato as she starred down at her unhealthy looking daughter.

"I'd do everything could do for vengeance," the young mother answered softly, a tear threatening to fall from her right eye. "I would not let anyone get away with that, those four monsters should _die._" Minato starred at her for a moment, Ai was trembling in her mother's arms, her father had fallen to his knees and Kushina looked like she was going to be sick.

"Then let go of your daughter," Minato said as he stood and with drew a kunai from his pouch, Ai gave a startled cry as she launched herself into her mother's protective embrace.

"Why? What are you going to do?" the woman asked, Minato looked at her dully for a moment.

"You said that the children that nearly killed that girl should die," Minato answered dully, "Do you suddenly belief that the actions of those children were right?"

"Of course not!" the woman snapped, "What do those _monsters_ have to do with my baby?" Ai flinched and curled tighter around her mother, tears running down her face.

"Ai-chan nearly killed another girl," Minato said coldly, "she might not live because of what your daughter and her friends did to her." The woman glared hatefully at him, she opened her mouth to speak but Minato cut her off. "Everything I just told you was true. The actions at least, I don't know where Ai and her friends where when they beat that girl and frankly I don't care. _You said_ that the _children_ who _nearly killed_ that girl in the story _should die_, I'm merrily going through with _your_ _request_."

"Ai would never do that!" the woman cried as she launched to her feet and hid Ai behind her protectively, "Ai is a good girl! She has no reason to kill another child!"

"Then why did she practice on that other girl?" Minato asked, "Hear I'll even give you proof." Minato placed his kunai knife away, "Ai give me your hands," Ai did so, flipping them so that her palms faced upwards, Minato pulled out a black light from his desk and flashed it onto her hands; Instantly revealing the blood that was there before she washed her hands off.

…

"_Father!" cried out a feminine voice, turning an old man with white-gray hair starred at the blurry of white rushing towards him._

"_Father!" cried the voice again and it took everything the old man had not to topple towards the ground as the small child tackled into his stomach._

"_Shunsetsu," Hagoromo chided softly, "What are you doing here?" the small girl looked up at him from beneath her white locks, tears in her emerald eyes._

"_Bad people!" Shunsetsu cried out, tears dripping from her eyes "Kura-kun said get you," Shunsetsu said as she hick-upped, Hagoromo smiled as he kneeled before the girl._

"_Do you remember what they looked like?" Hagoromo asked, the tiny six year old girl shook her head_

"_Smell," Shunsetsu said as she tapped her nose, "bad smell,"_

"_What did they smell like?" Hagoromo asked with a soft frown, Shunsetsu paused as she thought about._

"_Like… red stuff," Shunsetsu answered as she wrinkled her nose in distaste, "Shuka-nii likes red stuff." Hagoromo sighed as he thought of Shukaku and the strange speaking habits of Shunsetsu._

"_These are my sons," Hagoromo said as he turned Shunsetsu's attention towards the two men standing just behind him, "they will protect you until I return, understand?" Shunsetsu starred at the two men for a moment, an odd green glow taking over her eyes as she starred at the two, suddenly she pointed at the two men._

"_Bad blood!" Shunsetsu cried out as she clutched at Hagoromo's arms, "Bad blood for centuries to come! Hatred will grow till nothing left of second son, then both sons' disappear!" Hagoromo frowned at Shunsetsu, grasping her shoulder's gently Hagoromo turned the small child to look at him._

"_Shunsetsu wake up," Hagoromo ordered with a light shake of the child's shoulder's, "Wake up and remember who you are." Shunsetsu blinked with a gasp, starring up at Hagoromo, the child slowly calmed until the odd glow in her eyes faded and she swayed tiredly on her feet. Sighing Hagoromo picked up the small girl and turned towards his sons, completely aware of Shunsetsu's fallen coat reveling her nine perfectly white tails._

"_Is she a new Bijuu?" His eldest asked softly, Hagoromo starred at his two sons, before he nodded his head softly._

"_She is the nine tailed human kitsune," Hagoromo answered as he passed her off to the eldest's arms gently, "Sometimes she can see into the future…" Hagoromo added slowly. "Keep her safe until I return," he said as he watched both of his sons for a reaction, his youngest seemed to be interested in the small child but that was all he could tell. Hagoromo turned and rushed off to the mountain where his Bijuu were kept until they were ready to be brought to the outside world._

"_So we go back to the house now right?" the youngest brother asked softly as he eyed the sleeping child in his brother's arms, the eldest nodded and disappeared from sight. "Shukaku moves sand, Matatabi has telepathy, Isobu makes coral, Son Gok__ū__ is an arsonist, Koku__ō breaks sound barriers, Saiken is a slime ball, Chōmei transfers chakra, Gyūki creates ink, Kurama heals and destroys at the same time." the young watched as his brother landed next to their mother a few hundred feet away, "and the youngest of them all, Shunsetsu. Shunsetsu the human Kitsune, she sees into the future." The youngest son smiled "This is bound to be fun…"he said as he waved at his family and disappeared from sight._

…

Mebuki and her husband, Kizashi, where asleep on either side of their only daughter when Ai and her mother entered the room. Both parents had their heads on their arms and bent over the bed, their other hand was holding their child's tightly. Clearing her throat Ms. Shibuki watched as Mebuki and Kizashi jumped to their feet and covered their daughter protectively with Kunai knifes at the ready.

"Huh?" Mebuki asked softly, her eyes blurry from sleep, "Who—?"

"Ms. Shibuki?" Kizashi asked softly, he rubbed at his eyes tiredly before he looked closer at the couple and their child standing in the hospital door way.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Mebuki nearly snarled as she crouched before her daughter protectively, Ms. Shibuki looked shy for the time that Mebuki had known her.

"I-I" Ms. Shibuki paused as she glanced shyly at her husband; he nodded his head and gently pushed her forward. "I-I'm s-sorry..." Ms. Shibuki gave a deep bow to the Haruno's, "I-I d-don't ex-expect y-you t-to b-b-b-believe m-me, b-b-but I-I-I-I ha-haven't—"

"She's been under the influence of a jutsu," Mr. Shibuki interrupted his wife quickly, he too bowed deeply. "Please forgive my wife; someone had placed a strange jutsu upon her." Mebuki frowned as she looked at the couple; a few of her friends had known the woman when they were younger and were amazed that she had suddenly become so mean and cold sometime after the Kiyobi attach.

"What kind of jutsu could make someone do such a three-sixty?" Mebuki asked doubtfully

"A forbidden one," Mebuki and Kizashi straightened and bowed as Minato entered the hospital room. "I can vouch for her Mebuki-san, Kizashi-san; I'm the one who released it from her." Mebuki sighed and smiled at Minato gratefully.

"Thank you lord Hokage," Mebuki sighed in relief with a deep bow to her superior.

…

_Eight year old Tsukiko Uchiha ran off into the forest with a smile on her face, she was unaware of the eyes that watched her run off. Tsukiko ducked under tree branches and around bushes, she was careful not to touch anything green and to avoid mud; the eight year old girl paused to listen around herself several times throughout her journey. Reaching the top of a massive hill, Tsukiko turned around and looked out over the valley before her, moving some stray blue-black hair out of her eyes, Tsukiko turned around and ran from the view._

_Tsukiko ran and ran, no longer caring if she left behind a trail, she soon reached three large towering rocks and smiled at the sight. She climbed them as best as she could and when she got to the top she disappeared on the other side. Sliding down the slight incline on the other side, Tsukiko stood and stumbled slightly as she came across the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. The ground was mostly flat; the trees were so tall that Tsukiko could barely see the sky; the birds were friendly and sang songs to the young girl as she walked past their nests, it wasn't long before she came across a small lake with a stump on its edge._

_Tsukiko walked up to the stump and starred up at the top of it, it was at least ten feet tall; smiling lightly Tsukiko squatted at the base of the tree stump and looked in through a large whole that sat between the base of the tree and the moss covered ground. Beneath the stump was a small bundle of pink and white cloth, smiling Tsukiko brought her hands close to her mouth and mimicked one of the songs that the birds had sang to her earlier. The pink and white cloth twitched and Tsukiko let out another whistle, slowly the cloth moved and Tsukiko watched as blurry green eyes slowly peaked out from beneath the cloth and blink slowly up at her._

"_Good morning Hime" Tsukiko smiled; slowly the creature under the cloth uncurled and stretched, tiny hands stretched above white hair. As Tsukiko backed away from the hollow, pale and tiny, clawed hands stretched into the sun light just outside of the hollow. Smiling Tsukiko held out her hands slowly drew them back towards herself, as if she were coxing something out of the hollow._

"_Come on," Tsukiko said as she repeated to motions "come on, you can do it, you can come out," the tiny hands retreated back into the hallow and Tsukiko deflated slightly._

"_If you don't come out I'm leaving," Tsukiko said as she stood and crossed her arms. After counting to twenty, Tsukiko huffed and turned away from the hollow and took three steps back in the direction she had come from, she stopped when a flurry of pink and white cloth suddenly landed in her path blocking her off._

"_I was beginning to wonder," Tsukiko said as she put her hands on her hips "If you'd really want me to leave." The pink and white cloth moved and Tsukiko watched as the cloth slowly fell away to revile a small child. White hair fell over small shoulders and framed a heart shaped face, wide emerald green orbs pouted up at him. _

"_A new smell," the small girl whispered as she leaned forward and sniffed in Tsukiko's direction. The white haired girl let her overly large pink and white coat slump around her elbows, revealing her many layered pink and white kimono with its crimson and golden butterfly obi and white rope that tied it all together._

"_I sparred with my brother before I came over," Tsukiko replied softly as she offered the girl her open palm, she sniffed at it delicately before she covered her nose and pouted at her childishly. Tsukiko smiled and chuckled at the small girl before her, "are the other's near?" Tsukiko asked as she squatted in front of the girl. She looked at her from the corner of her eye as she turned her nose to the air and sniffed delicately, like she was smelling a flower._

"_Close," the girl nodded her head softly, she pointed to her left, the west of their position, but her eyes were locked to a corner just behind her on her left side. "Someone fallowed," the girl whispered softly, "need to run—not safe." Tsukiko blinked at the girl before she nodded her head at her and smiled._

"_I'll race you," Tsukiko said loudly as she turned and took off, "the first one there gets sweets from Hashi-san!" and yet as Tsukiko ran with all of her strength, determined to out run this girl who wore expensive kimonos, still that girl glided next to her effortlessly; running beside her without ruffling her dress even once. Tsukiko knew she could out run her, she could out run anyone; the only reason the girl had always chosen to run beside her, was for the simple fact that she could._

_Five minutes later Tsukiko tumbled out from behind a few bushes and stumbled upon two young boys, one with wild white hair and crimson eyes with small red lines coming up from the corners of his jaws pointing towards his nose and one thin strip coming up from his chin and the other boy with short black hair and black eyes._

"_Hay Tsu-chan what took you so long?" the boy with black hair asked with a big smile, "Hime has been waiting for you," the two boys stepped aside to reveal the smiling white haired girl gracefully kneeling between the two boys on a white red cloth._

"_Tsu-chan, Tsu-chan, Tsu-chan" the girl sang with a wide smile; "Sweets now Hashi-chan? Sweets now? We get sweets now?" wide green eyes looked up at the dark haired boy pleadingly; he took a step back hesitantly, his own brown orbs wide as he stared down at the girl._

"_Uh-um-uh…" the boy stammered out as he looked over at Tsukiko "Did you promise her sweets again?" he asked, Tsukiko smirked and crossed her arms._

"_One would think you'd come prepared, Hashirama" Tsukiko replied smugly, a light glowing in her dark eyes, the boy with dark hair gulped as he looked down at the girl who was still giving him a pleadingly look._

"_uh-uh-s-sorry…" the dark haired boy, Hashirama, stumbled out; the white haired boy sighed as he closed his eyes and rummaged in his small pack at his side. The girl blinked up at Hashirama for a moment before realization seemed to dawn on her. Instantly the white haired girl turned away from Hashirama and covered her face with her pink clothed hands, sobbing softly. _

"_Ah! I'm sorry! I'll bring some next time!" Hashirama promised as he tried his best to get the girl to stop crying "promise! Promise! I'll bring three whole bintos full of sweets tomorrow!" Tsukiko smiled as she walked forward and sat on the ground next to the white haired girl. She glanced up at her from between her hands, Tsukiko's smile got bigger when she saw that the girl was faking it._

"_Here," the white haired boy shoved his hand towards the softly crying white haired girl, sniffing softly the girl raised her head just enough to look over her hands. The white haired boy's hand held four pieces of small candies; the girl sniffed at them and looked up at him questioningly. "You like sweets, so I took these just in case."_

"_That's not fare Tobirama!" Hashirama cried "You could've warned me!"_

"_You should've remembered what happened the last three days," the white haired boy, Tobirama, dead panned in response._

"_Sweets?" the girl asked softly as she tilted her head to the side, they didn't look like the sweets she was used too._

"_Yeah," Tobirama crouched before the white haired girl, "see this one?" Tobirama pointed to a small brown square "this one is Carmel, and this one—" he pointed to a large crimson orb "Is supposed to be spicy Cimon." The white haired girl leaned away looking horrified at the little red candy, Tobirama chuckled at her before he tossed the red candy at Tsukiko; who took it and quickly jammed it into Hashirama's mouth. The three children chuckled and laughed as Hashirama ran around them spitting flames as tears ran down his cheeks._

"_Note to self, no spicy foods" Tobirama chuckled as he drew both girl's attention back towards him, "this yellow one is lemon," Tobirama said as he pointed at the tiny flattened circle, "this green one is supposed to be apple, but I don't know, I've never had the green ones before." The girl nodded her head and quickly took the yellow and green orbs._

"_Thank you Tobi-kun" the girl smiled up at Tobirama before she stuffed the yellow orb into Tsukiko's mouth, "Punishment," she said as if she were scolding Tsukiko; she turned back to Tobirama and gestured him to take the little brown square before she popped the green orb in her mouth. Tobirama smiled at her as he quickly placed the tiny brown candy in his mouth, the three still ignored the running around Hashirama who was begging for some water. After a few more minutes, and a fierce glare from the girl, Tsukiko finally stood up and gave Hashirama her water bottle._

"_Better?" the girl questioned as she sat before Hashirama who suddenly choked on the water, "Hashi-chan better or Worse?" the girl asked as she looked up at Tobirama as he approached his friends, he chuckled and looked at his sputtering brother._

"_He'll be fine," Tobirama assured the girl, "did you speak to your brother last night Shunsetsu-chan?" Tobirama asked as he sat slightly farther away from the white haired girl, she blinked at him for a moment before she nodded her head._

"_Aniki was mad…" the girl whispered softly looking dejected, Tobirama gave her a soft smile_

"_I apologize for getting you in trouble Shunsetsu-chan" Tobirama said in response, the girl, Shunsetsu, smiled brightly up at him._

"_Still got answers!" Shunsetsu cheered "Aniki says few humans are good," Shunsetsu, replied softly with a nod of her head, "he says chakra says all."_

"_Really?" Hashirama asked as he sat up on Shunsetsu's left side, at the same distance as Tobirama. "How can you tell if someone's good or bad based on their chakra?" Shunsetsu thought about it for a moment as she tilted her head to the side._

"_Good chakra is… calming," Shunsetsu said as she rolled her eyes "good chakra is like…" Shunsetsu tilted her head as a smile split across her face "good chakra is like water! Or sun light, or, or—"_

"_Like Tsukiko's and Tobirama's chakras?" Hashirama asked with a raised eye brow, Shunsetsu paused as she thought about it, a new, brighter smile split across her face _

"_And Hashi-chan's!" Shunsetsu said, her eyes a light, Hashirama's cheeks turned red slightly as he looked away which only made Shunsetsu giggle._

"_What about bad chakra?" Tobirama asked, Shunsetsu paused as she looked back at the white haired boy next to her. A frown crossed her face as she thought about, Hashirama waited until he was sure Shunsetsu wasn't focused on them before he punched his brother in leg._

"_Ah!" Shunsetsu's eyes brightened as she pointed to their left, where Tsukiko had stumbled out "that chakra is neutral." Shunsetsu said with a soft smile and light forwarding of her brows, "neutral because it has lots of darkness that glows with brightness." The boys tilted their heads as they tried to concentrate on the presence she had spoken on; but the only thing that they found strange about the chakra was that it was quickly coming towards them. The boys stood up and quickly stood up in front of Shunsetsu as if they were her guards._

"_Hime-chan should we run?" Hashirama asked, the other two tensed and readied themselves, Shunsetsu just shook her head._

"_No, same as before," Shunsetsu said as she turned to Tsukiko "follower."_

"_Forgive me Hime," Tsukiko said with a frown on her face, "I thought I had covered my trail well enough, but… I'm sorry…"_

"_Accepted," Shunsetsu said with a smile she jumped up and landed on to the edge of their small clearing, kneeling onto the grass she faced the direction that the chakra was coming from. "Prepare, no fight yet" the two boys frowned at Shunsetsu and her strange way of speaking on occasion. _

"_Talk before we flee?" Tobirama asked Hashirama nodded his head; he wasn't strong enough to take on anyone who was bad enough to make his Hime nervous._

"_Strong but young," Shunsetsu whispered softly, "Like you three."_

"_How strong can someone be that's our age?" Hashirama asked_

"_Have you not met my master?" Tsukiko asked with a smirk, Hashirama glared at him half heartedly. "Hime why don't you hide behind the tree? This way some questions won't get asked if we know the person." Shunsetsu starred at Tsukiko for a moment before she nodded her head,_

"_I provide distracting boom" Shunsetsu said as she quickly hid behind the nearby tree, it took everything the three children had not to smile at her words. Clearly she was planning on blowing the clearing up if their new quest shows themselves to be troublesome. "Five seconds," Shunsetsu whispered as she disappeared from sight, the boys tensed and readied themselves._

"_Tsukiko!" cried out a voice and immanently Tsukiko felt like falling into a deep dark whole, she relaxed and put her kunai knife away. Tobirama and Hashirama nodded their heads and disappeared behind the tree that Shunsetsu had hidden herself behind._

"_Master," Tsukiko mumbled softly as the panting form landed before her, "Izuna-Sama what are you doing here?"_

…

Heaving a heavy sigh he stood up from where he sat on three towering stones, he could see the small lake and hollow he had fallowed his brother too all those years ago. Nodding his head at the sight, as if satisfied that nothing had changed since his last visit, the man turned and rushed away from the scene.

_Time to start business,_ the man thought as he rushed away into the growing darkness of the fading winter morning.

…

Sakura woke up to a soft voice calling her, she knew that voice; she just didn't know where she'd heard it before.

_Fallow me,_ it whispered softly, _follow me little one,_ Sakura wasn't sure if she should be listening to the voice, she was kind of scared of it. As if it belonged to some great scary monster that would eat her alive if she wasn't careful.

_Sakura-chan_ it whispered softly, _Sakura-chan, fallow my voice, that's it, fallow my voice little one…_

Sakura struggled against the strange sensation of being pulled; she felt as if something was reaching out to her, something with pale hands and clawed fingers.

Sakura gasped as her eyes flew open, she was in a white room that she felt was familiar but knew she'd never been there before. Fearfully, Sakura's eyes swept around her form for any threats, anyone or anything that might hurt her; But Sakura only saw white walls, a door way with two people standing in it and a curtain that blocked her view of the people standing in the door way. She watched as the two forms turned and rushed towards her, fearing the strange shadowy people, Sakura sat up and pulled herself into a fetal position.

"Sakura!" Sakura sank into her mattresses as her mother burst from around the corner.

"Mommy!" Sakura cried as her mother quickly wrapped her in her arms, her father quickly joining in the hug. "Mommy," Sakura sobbed into her mother's shoulder, "Don't let him get me…" Mebuki stiffened at her daughter's soft voice, her arms tightening around her daughter as she looked up at her husband worriedly.

"Don't worry sweet heart," Kizashi said softly, his hand brushing softly against his daughter's head, "He'll never get you."

"Sakura-chan," the Haruno family turned and looked up at the person with the soft voice, Minato stood at the end of her bed with a soft smile "Sakura-chan how are you feeling?"

"Confused," Sakura said softly, her brows forwarding, "Why am I here mommy? Did something happen?" Minato frowned at the small girl gently

"Sakura-chan, what is the last thing you remember?" Minato asked, Sakura tilted her head to the side slightly, her eyes glazed over as she thought about it.

"Hands," Sakura whispered softly, suddenly looking pale and frightened. "Pale hands… long fingers…" Sakura shivered in her seat, her arms wrapped around herself as she brought her knees to her chest, "reaching out for me… trying to grab me… trying to get me…" Sakura gave another frightened shiver, her whole body shaking like a leave, her eyes wide and horrified, almost haunted looking.

"Why did he want me?" Sakura asked her mother looking frightened beyond belief, Mebuki gritted her teeth and wrapped her daughter in her arms tightly, tears gathering in her eyes.

…

**Madara's wife**

**Page 29**

**Chapter 2: Seals reviled**


End file.
